IANS  OF 
E  PLAINS 


JC-NRLF 


SB    Ifli4    717 


LIBRARY 


ASSINIBOIN  WARRIOR 
(After  Maximilian.) 


AMERICAN  MUSEUM  OF  NATURAL  HISTORY 


NORTH  AMERICAN 
INDIANS  OF  THE  PLAINS 


By  CLARK  WISSLER 

CURATOR  OF  ANTHROPOLOGY 


HANDBOOK  SERIES  No.  1 

(SECOND  EDITION) 


NEW  YORK 
1920 


<</ 


MA'N   LIBRARY 


ANTHROPOLOGY  I 


PLAN  OF  THE  PLAINS  INDIAN  HALL. 

The  Museum  exhibits  for  the  various  tribes  are  arranged  in  approxi 
mate  geographical  order,  beginning  with  the  Plains-Cree  of  the  north 
and  proceeding  with  the  typical  nomadic  tribes  (p.  14).  In  the  north 
western  part  of  the  hall  are  the  Shoshoni,  Ute,  and  Nez  Perec,  whose 
culture  is  intermediate  between  that  of  the  Plains  and  Plateau  area. 
In  the  northeastern  section  are  the  Mandan,  Hidatsa,  and  other  Village 
tribes,  also  manifesting  an  intermediate  culture  between  the  Plains 
and  that  of  the  Woodlands  to  the  east. 

The  Woodland  hall  to  the  east  and  the  Southwest  hall  to  the  north, 
are  so  arranged  as  to  bring  the  intermediate  tribes  of  each  region  near 
the  entrance  to  the  Plains  Indian  hall.  Thus,  from  case  to  case,  one 
may  follow  changes  in  culture  from  the  Atlantic  Coast  to  the  Colorado 
River  and  the  Gulf  of  California. 


427605 


MA'N   LIBRARY          ANTHROPOLOGY  i 


PLAN  OF  THE  PLAINS  INDIAN  HALL. 

The  Museum  exhibits  for  the  various  tribes  are  arranged  in  approxi 
mate  geographical  order,  beginning  with  the  Plains-Cree  of  the  north 
and  proceeding  with  the  typical  nomadic  tribes  (p.  14).  In  the  north 
western  part  of  the  hall  are  the  Shoshoni,  Ute,  and  Nez  Perce,  whose 
culture  is  intermediate  between  that  of  the  Plains  and  Plateau  area. 
In  the  northeastern  section  are  the  Mandan,  Hidatsa,  and  other  Village 
tribes,  also  manifesting  an  intermediate  culture  between  the  Plains 
and  that  of  the  Woodlands  to  the  east. 

The  Woodland  hall  to  the  east  and  the  Southwest  hall  to  the  north, 
are  so  arranged  as  to  bring  the  intermediate  tribes  of  each  region  near 
the  entrance  to  the  Plains  Indian  hall.  Thus,  from  case  to  case,  one 
may  follow  changes  in  culture  from  the  Atlantic  Coast  to  the  Colorado 
River  and  the  Gulf  of  California. 


PREFACE. 

THIS  little  book  is  not  merely  a  guide  to  museum 
collections  from  the  Plains  Indians,  but  a  sum 
mary  of  the  facts  and  interpretations  making  up 
the  anthropology  of  those  Indians.  The  specimens  in 
this  Museum  were,  for  the  most  part,  systematically  col 
lected  by  members  of  the  scientific  staff  while  sojourning 
among  the  several  tribes.  They  were  selected  to 
illustrate  various  points  in  tribal  life  and  customs,  or 
culture.  The  exhibits  in  the  Plains  Hall  contain,  as 
far  as  sfcace  permits,  most  of  the  typical  objects  for 
each  tribe;  yet,  it  has  been  physically  impossible  to 
show  everything  the  Museum  possesses.  So  the  most 
characteristic  objects  for  each  tribe  have  been  selected 
and  care  taken  to  have  the  other  objects  common  to 
many  tribes  appear  at  least  once  in  some  part  of  the 
hall.  The  ideal  way  would  be  to  get  every  variety  of 
every  object  used  by  each  subdivision  of  a  tribe  and 
exhibit  all  of  them  in  their  entirety;  but  few  collections 
can  be  made  so  complete,  and  even  if  they  could,  space 
in  the  building  could  not  be  found  for  them.  The 
exhibits,  then,  should  be  taken  as  material  indices,  or 
marks,  of  tribal  cultures  and  not  as  complete  exposi 
tions  of  them.  This  handbook,  on  the  other  hand, 
deals  with  the  main  points  in  the  anthropology  of  the 
Plains  Indians  many  of  which  (as  marriage,  social  and 
political  organization,  language,  etc.)  cannot  be  de 
monstrated  by  collections.  The  statements  in  the 
text  are  made  upon  the  authority  of  the  many  special 


b  INDIANS  OF  THE  PLAINS 

students  of  these  Indians  in  whose  writings  will  be 
found  far  more  complete  accounts.  Citations  to  the 
more  important  works  will  be  given  in  the  bibliography. 
The  illustrations  are  chiefly  from  the  anthropological 
publications  of  the  Museum  and  for  the  most  part 
represent  specimens  on  exhibition  in  the  Plains  Hall. 
For  a  mere  general  view  of  the  subject,  the  legends  to 
the  maps,  the  introduction,  and  the  concluding  chapter 
are  recommended.  The  intervening  topics  may  then 
be  taken  up  as  guides  to  the  study  of  collections  or  the 
perusal  of  the  special  literature. 


CONTENTS. 

PAGE. 

PREFACE  

INTRODUCTION 17 

CHAPTER  I. 

MATERIAL  CULTURE 

Food.  Buffalo  Hunting.  Hunting  Implements. .IPemmican. 
Agriculture.  Transportation.  The  Tipi.  Earth-Lodges. 
Dress.  Industrial  Arts.  Fire-making.  Textiles  and  Skins. 
Tailoring.  The  Use  of  Rawhide.  The  Parfleche.  Rawhide 
Bags.  Soft  Bags.  Household  Utensils.  ^Tools.  r  Digging 
Stick.  Pipes.  Weapons.  Games. 

CHAPTER  II. 

SOCIAL  ORGANIZATION  ....  .       .       87 

The  Camp  Circle.  Marriage.  Government.  Soldier  Bands 
or  Societies.  Social  Distinction. 

CHAPTER  III. 
RELIGION  AND  CEREMONIES 

Mythology.  Religious  Concepts.  A  Supernatural  Helper. 
Medicine  Bundles.  Tribal  Ceremonies.  The  Sun  Dance. 
Ghost  Dance  Ceremonies.  Peyote  Worship.  Dancing  Asso 
ciations.  War  and  Scalp  Dances.  Ceremonial  Procedure. 

CHAPTER  IV. 
DECORATIVE  AND  RELIGIOUS  ART 127 

CHAPTER  V. 
LANGUAGE 134 

CHAPTER  VI. 
PHYSICAL  TYPE 139 

CHAPTER  VII. 

THE  CHRONOLOGY  OF  PLAINS  CULTURE 146 

The  Pre-Columbian  Period.    The  Horse  Culture  Period. 

CHAPTER  VIIL 

ORIGINS .  154 

BIBLIOGRAPHY 159 

INDEX  161 


MAPS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

PAGE. 

Assiniboin  Warrior Frontispiece 

Plan  of  the  Plains  Indian  Hall 3 

Culture  Areas  in  North  America 11 

Map  showing  the  Distribution  of  the  Buffalo  about  1800       .        .  13 

The  Indians  of  the  Plains     .        .    I Facing  14 

The  Distribution  of  Forests  in  Western  United  States   .        .        .  15 
Sinewed-backed  Bow  and  Quiver  from  the  Blackfoot  and  a  Com 
pound  Bow  of  Mountain  Sheep  Horn  from  the  Nez  Perce         .  26 

Lance  with  Obsidian  Point.    Nez  Perce 27 

Meat  Drying  Rack.    Blackfoot 28 

Stone-headed  Pounders .        .        .29 

Crossing  the  Missouri  in  a  Bull-Boat 32 

Blackfoot  Travois 34 

Assiniboin  Dog  Travois 35 

Setting  up  a  Crow  Tipi 39 

Hidatsa  Village  in  1868 41 

One-piece  Moccasin  Pattern 43 

Two-piece  Moccasin  Pattern 44 

Man's  Shirt.    Blackfoot 46 

Costumed  Figure  of  a  Dakota  Woman 48 

Woman's  Dress  of  Elkskin 49 

A  Woman's  Dress  made  from  Two  Deerskins          .        .        .        .  51 

Distribution  of  the  Plains  Type  of  Woman's  Dress        ...  52 

Firedrill.    Northern  Shoshoni 55 

Fleshing  a  Hide      . 57 

Using  a  Stone  Scraper 57 

Scraping  a  Hide.    Blood 59 

Hide  Scrapers 61 

Fleshing  Tools 63 

Parfleche  Pattern 66 

A  Parfleche 66 

Bag  made  of  Rawhide - ...  68 

A  Case  made  of  Rawhide 68 

Bag  Decorated  with  Porcupine  Quills  and  Beads.    Dakota  .        .  69 

Pipe  and  Tobacco  Bags.    Dakota 70 

Strike-a-light  Pouch.    Arapaho 72 

Boiling  with  Hot  Stones  in  a  Paunch  Supported  by  Sticks.    Black- 
foot       .      • 75 

Buffalo  Horn  Spoon 76 


10  INDIANS  OF  THE  PLAINS 

PAGE. 

Bone  Knife 80 

A  Buffalo  Hide  Shield  from  the  Northern  Blackfoot       ...  83 

The  Cheyenne  Camp  Circle         . 90 

A  Dog  Dancer.    Hidatsa 95 

Dance  of  the  Bull  Society.     Mandan 97 

Headdress  of  Buffalo  Skin,  Arapaho  Women's  Society    ...  98 

A  Blackfoot  War  Record      ., 100 

Medicine-pipe  and  Bundle Ill 

A  Bundle  and  Contents.    Arapaho 112 

Arapaho  Sun  Dance,  Model  in  the  Museum 115 

Digging  Stick  and  Case  for  Blackfoot  Sun  Dance  Bundle      .        .  117 

Sun  Dance  Headdress.    Blackfoot 118 

Peyote  Button 121 

Types  of  Designs  on  Moccasins 127 

Design  Elements,  Bead  and  Quill  Embroidery         ....  128 

Arapaho  Moccasin  with  Symbolic  Decoration 129 

Painted  Designs  on  a  Woman's  Robe.    Dakota       ....  131 

Blanket  Band  in  Quills.     Blackfoot 133 

Teton-Dakota  and  Crow  Types  .        .        .        .        .        .        .        .140 

Cheyenne  and  Pawnee  Types 141 

Blackfoot  and  Wind  River  Shoshoni  Types 142 


s  MACKENZIE..  ^ 
NORTH  PACIFIC  COPgr\    AMEA 
AKEA 


CULTURE  AREAS  IN  NORTH  AMERICA. 

The  divisions  marked  on  this  map  are  not  absolute  but  relative. 
Rarely  can  a  tribe  be  found  anywhere  that  does  not  share  some  of  the 
cultural  traits  of  all  its  immediate  neighbors.  Yet,  certain  groups  of 
tribes  often  have  highly  characteristic  traits  in  common;  hence,  they 
are  said  to  be  of  the  same  general  culture  type.  Thus  the  tribes  dis 
cussed  in  this  book  have  a  number  of  peculiar  traits  whose  distribution 
in  more  or  less  complete  association  is  taken  as  indicating  the  geographi 
cal  extent  of  a  type  of  culture.  The  fact  that  these  boundaries  almost 

11 


12  INDIANS  OF  THE  PLAINS 

coincide  with  the  limits  of  the  treeless  prairies  and  plains  and  that 
this  culture  is  most  intensified  among  the  tribes  living  in  the  Great 
Plains,  has  given  rise  to  the  term  Plains  area.  In  the  same  way  other 
parts  of  the  continent  appear  as  the  homes  of  peculiar  culture  types. 
Anthropologists  generally  recognize  at  least  eleven  such  areas  whose 
approximate  extents  we  have  indicated  in  the  accompanying  map. 
The  types  for  each  of  these  are  illustrated  as  space  permits  in  the  four 
halls  on  the  first  floor  of  the  Museum.  As  will  be  exemplified  in  the 
text,  the  lines  separating  these  areas  are  somewhat  arbitrary.  A  more 
correct  method  would  be  to  color  the  areas  and  divide  them  by  broad 
bands  in  ever  changing  mixtures  of  the  two  colors,  but  only  in  a  few 
instances  have  we  sufficient  data  to  do  even  this  accurately.  Hence, 
the  approximate  line  seems  the  best  designation  of  culture  boundaries. 

Reference  to  a  linguistic  map  of  North  America  will  show  that  there 
is  little  correspondence  between  linguistic  stocks  and  culture  type,  for 
while  in  some  cases  the  two  lines  on  the  map  coincide,  in  others,  they 
show  no  approach  whatsoever.  Again,  while  the  physical  types  of 
the  Indians  show  some  tendencies  to  agree  in  distribution  with  cultural 
traits,  they  also  show  marked  disagreements.  Hence,  it  is  not  far 
wrong  to  say  that  if,  according  to  the  data  now  available,  we  superim 
posed  cultural,  linguistics!,  and  physical  type  maps,  we  should  find 
them  with  few  boundaries  in  common. 

Returning  to  the  consideration  of  culture  areas  and  referring  to  the 
tribal  map  (p.  14),  we  see  that  the  tribes  of  Plains  Indians  in  a  central 
position  are  the  most  typical,  while  their  immediate  neighbors  show 
tendencies  to  live  like  more  distant  tribes.  What  we  find,  then,  is  a 
kind  of  culture  center,  where  the  purest  types  are  found,  while  sur 
rounding  this  center  are  less  pure  cultures.  Each  of  the  designated 
culture  areas  in  North  America  contains  such  a  center  where  the  true 
type  of  culture  is  to  be  found. 


.-,-"'  ;:"v     .. 


• 


MAP   SHOWING   THE   DISTRIBUTION   OF   THE    BUFFALO   ABOUT   1800. 

The  larger  area  defines  the  limits  of  the  buffalo  range  in  1800  as 
determined  by  Dr.  J.  A.  Allen.  The  smaller  area  indicates  the  range 
of  the  Plains  Indians.  While  the  bison  area  is  somewhat  larger  than 
the  culture  area,  the  largest  herds  were  found  within  the  bounds  of 
the  latter.  On  the  other  hand,  the  cultures  of  tribes  along  the  borders 
of  the  area  are  often  intermediate  in  character.  Hence,  we  find  a 
rather  close  correlation  between  the  distribution  of  the  bison  and 
culture  traits,  the  nine  typical  tribes  living  where  the  herds  were  thick 
est. 

13 


THE  INDIANS  OF  THE  PLAINS. 

The  ranges  for  the  various  tribes  are  approximately  indicated  by  the 
positions  and  extents  of  their  respective  names.  As  a  rule,  these  tribes 
did  not  respect  definite  boundaries  to  their  ranges,  each  tribe  claiming 
certain  camping  places,  but  otherwise  hunting  and  roaming  where  it 
pleased.  The  typical  Plains  tribes  are  designated  by  a  star  and  range 
north  and  south  across  the  area.  To  the  east  of  them  are  the  tribes 
practising  some  agriculture,  perhaps  in  imitation  of  the  Woodland  tribes. 
On  the  west  are  a  few  tribes  whose  position  is  uncertain;  hence,  the 
boundary  for  the  culture  area  has  been  drawn  through  their  range,  thus 
giving  them  an  intermediate  position. 

14 


THE  DISTRIBUTION  OF  FORESTS  IN  WESTERN  UNITED  STATES. 

The  shaded  portions  of  this  map  mark  the  areas  originally  covered 
with  trees.  The  true  plains  extend  from  north  to  south  along  the  east 
ern  border  of  the  Rocky  Mountains.  On  the  west,  trees  are  found  on 
the  sides  of  mountains;  on  the  east,  they  stretch  out  into  the  plains 
along  the  margins  of  the  streams.  Reference  to  the  tribal  map  shows 
how  the  typical  group  ranges  in  the  open  plains  while  the  eastern  agri 
cultural  Village  group  lives  in  the  partially  forested  belt.  On  the  west 
the  Plateau  group  appears  to  range  in  the  open  stretches  among  the 
mountains. 

15 


INTRODUCTION. 


THE  North  American  Indians  may  be  classified  in 
three  ways:  first,  as  to  language;  second,  as  to 
customs  and  habits  (culture) ;  third,  as  to 
anatomical  characters  (physical  type).  It  is,  however, 
usual  to  consider  them  as  composed  of  small  more  or  less 
distinct  political  or  social  groups,  or  tribes,  and  it  is 
under  such  group  names  that  the  objects  in  museum 
collections  are  arranged.  The  cultures  of  many  tribes 
are  quite  similar  and  since  such  resemblances  are  nearly 
always  found  among  neighbors  and  not  among  widely 
scattered  tribes,  it  is  convenient  and  proper  to  group 
them  in  geographical  or  culture  areas.  Most  anthro 
pologists  classify  the  cultures  of  North  American  tribes 
approximately  as  shown  on  the  accompanying  map. 

In  the  region  of  the  great  plains  and  prairies  were 
many  tribes  of  Plains  Indians,  who  have  held  the  first 
place  in  the  literature  and  art  of  our  time.  Being 
rather  war-like  and  strong  in  numbers,  many  of  them 
are  intimately  associated  with  the  history  of  our 
western  states  and  every  school  boy  knows  how  the 
Dakota  (Sioux)  rode  down  Ouster's  command.  The 
names  of  Sitting-bull,  Red-cloud,  and  Chief  Joseph  are 
also  quite  familiar. 

The  culture  of  these  Plains  tribes  is  most  strikingly 
associated  with  the  buffalo,  or  bison,  which  not  so  very 
long  ago  roamed  over  their  entire  area.  Turning  to 
the  map  one  may  see  how  closely  the  distributions  of 
this  culture  type  and  that  for  the  buffalo  coincide. 
This  animal  supplied  them  with  one  of  their  chief  foods, 
in  accessible  and  almost  never-failing  abundance.  For 

17 


18  INDIANS  OF  THE  PLAINS 

a  part  of  the  year  at  least,  all  Plains  tribes  used  the 
conical  skin  tent,  or  tipi.  In  early  times  the  dog  was 
used  to  transport  baggage  and  supplies,  but  later, 
horses  became  very  abundant  and  it  is  not  far  wrong  to 
speak  of  all  Plains  tribes  as  horsemen.  When  on  the 
hunt  or  moving  in  a  large  body  most  of  these  tribes 
were  controlled  by  a  band  of  " soldiers,"  or  police,  who 
drove  in  stragglers  and  repressed  those  too  eager  to 
advance  and  who  also  policed  the  camp  and  maintained 
order  and  system  in  the  tribal  hunt.  All  Indians  are 
quite  religious.  Most  of  the  Plains  tribes  had  a  grand 
annual  gathering  known  in  literature  as  the  sun  dance. 
In  general,  these  few  main  cultural  characteristics  may 
be  taken  to  designate  the  type — the  use  of  the  buffalo, 
the  tipi,  the  horse,  the  soldier-band,  and  the  sun  dance. 
Many  of  the  tribes  living  near  the  Mississippi  and  along 
the  Missouri,  practised  agriculture  in  a  small  way  and 
during  a  part  of  the  year  lived  in  earth-covered  or  bark 
houses.  Furthermore,  there  are  many  other  tribal 
differences,  so  that  it  becomes  admissible  to  subdivide 
the  Plains  Indians.  The  following  seems  the  most 
consistent  grouping. 


INTRODUCTION  19 

1.     The  Northern  Tribes 

*Assiniboin  Plains-Cree 

*Blackfoot  Plains-Ojibway 

*Crow  Sarsi 

*Gros  Ventre  *Teton-Dakota 

2.     The  Southern  Tribes 

*Arapaho  *Comanche 

*Cheyenne  *Kiowa 

Kiowa- Apache 

3.     The  Village,  or  Eastern  Tribes 

Arikara  Omaha 

Hidatsa  Osage 

Iowa  Oto 

Kansa  Pawnee 

Mandan  Ponca 

Missouri  Eastern  Dakota 
Wichita 

4.     The  Plateau,  or  Western  Tribes 

Bannock  Northern  Shoshoni 

Nez  Perce  Ute 

Wind  River  Shoshoni 

Cultural  characteristics  change  gradually  as  we  go 
from  one  tribe  to  another;  hence,  on  the  edges  of  the 
Plains  area  we  may  expect  many  doubtful  cases. 
Among  such  may  be  enumerated  the  Flathead  and 


20  INDIANS  OF  THE  PLAINS 

Pend  D'Oreille  of  the  northwest,  the  Illinois  and 
Winnebago  of  the  east,  and  some  Apache  of  the  south. 
On  the  southeast,  in  Texas  and  Arkansas,  were  the 
Caddoan  tribes  (Kichai,  Waco,  Tawakoni,  etc.,  rela 
tives  of  the  Wichita)  having  a  culture  believed  to  be 
intermediate  between  the  Plains  and  that  of  the 
Southeastern  area.  Yet,  in  spite  of  these  and  other 
doubtful  cases,  it  is  usual  to  exclude  all  not  enumerated 
in  the  above  lists  as  belonging  more  distinctly  with 
other  culture  areas.  As  this  grouping  is  rather  for 
convenience  than  otherwise,  and  the  culture  of  each 
tribe  is  determined  by  its  own  data,  the  exact  placing 
of  these  border  tribes  is  of  no  great  moment.  However, 
the  most  typical  Plains  tribes  are  the  Assiniboin, 
Blackfoot,  Gros  Ventre,  Crow,  Teton-Dakota,  Arapaho. 
Cheyenne,  Comanche,  and  Kiowa,  indicated  in  the 
preceding  list  by  an  asterisk  (*).  Reference  to  the 
map  shows  how  peculiarly  this  typical  group  stretches 
from  north  to  south,  almost  in  a  straight  line,  with  the 
intermediate  Plateau  group  on  one  side  and  the  Village 
group  on  the  other.  Again,  the  forestry  map  shows 
that  the  range  of  this  typical  nomadic  group  coincides 
with  the  area  in  which  trees  are  least  in  evidence.  It- 
embraces  the  true  tipi-dwelling,  horse,  and  non-agri 
cultural  tribes.  It  is  primarily  the  cultural  traits  of 
this  nomadic  group  that  are  discussed  in  this  book, 
though  the  important  exceptions  among  the  two 
marginal  groups  are  noted. 


CHAPTER  I. 
MATERIAL  CULTURE. 

SINCE  this  is  a  discussion  of  the  general  character 
istics  of  Plains  Indians,  we  shall  not  take  them  up 
by  tribes,  as  is  usual,  but  by  topics,    Anthropolo 
gists  are  accustomed  to  group  the  facts  of  primitive  life 
under  the  following  main  heads:  material  culture  (food, 
transportation,  shelter,  dress,  manufactures,  weapons, 
etc.),  social  organization,  religion  and  ceremonies,  art, 
language,  and  physical  type. 

Food.  The  flesh  of  the  buffalo  was  the  great  staple 
of  the  Plains  Indians,  though  elk,  antelope,  bear  and 
smaller  game  were  not  infrequently  used.  On  the  other 
hand,  vegetable  foods  were  always  a  considerable  por 
tion  of  their  diet,  many  of  the  eastern  groups  cultivating 
corn  (maize)  and  gathering  wild  rice,  the  others  making 
extensive  use  of  wild  roots,  seeds,  and  fruits.  All  the 
tribes  living  on  the  edges  of  the  buffalo  area,  even  those 
on  the  western  border  of  the  Woodlands,  seem  to  have 
made  regular  hunting  excursions  out  into  the  open 
country.  Thus  Nicolas  Perrot  writing  in  1680-1718 
(p.  119)  says  of  the  Indians  in  Illinois:— 

The  savages  set  out  in  the  autumn,  after  they  have  gathered  the 
harvest,  to  go  hunting;  and  they  do  not  return  to  their  villages  until 
the  month  of  March,  in  order  to  plant  the  grain  on  their  lands.  As 
soon  as  this  is  done,  they  go  hunting  again,  and  do  not  return  until 
the  month  of  July. 

21 


22 


INDIANS  OF  THE  PLAINS 


Early  explorers  in  the  plateaus  to  the  west  of  the 
plains  tell  us  that  the  Nez  Perce  and  Flathead  of  Idaho 
and  even  the  inhabitants  of  the  Rio  Grande  pueblo  of 
Taos,  New  Mexico,  made  periodical  hunting  excursions 
to  the  plains. 

To  most  of  the  Plains  tribes,  the  introduction  of  the 
European  horse  was  a  great  boon.  Unfortunately, 
we  have  no  definite  information  as  to  when  and  how 
the  horse  was  spread  over  the  plains  but  it  was  so  early 
that  its  presence  is  noted  by  some  of  the  earliest  ex 
plorers.  It  is  generally  assumed  that  by  trade  and  by 
the  capture  of  horses  escaping  from  the  settlements, 
the  various  tribes  quickly  acquired  their  stock,  first 
from  Mexico  and  the  southern  United  States,  whence 
the  Apache,  Comanche,  Kiowa,  and  Pawnee  obtained 
them,  and  in  turn  passed  them  on  to  the  north. 
The  Shoshoni  and  other  tribes  of  the  Plateau  area  were 
also  pioneers  in  their  use.  Even  as  early  as  1754  horses 
are  reported  in  great  numbers  among  the  Blackfoot, 
one  of  the  extreme  Northern  Plains  groups.  Hence, 
we  have  no  detailed  information  as  to  the  mode  of  life 
among  these  tribes  before  the  horse  was  introduced, 
except  what  is  gleaned  from  their  tribal  traditions. 
That  the  use  of  the  horse  made  a  great  change  in  cul 
ture  is  quite  probable.  It  must  have  stimulated 
roving  and  the  pursuit  of  the  buffalo  and  discouraged 
tendencies  toward  fixed  abodes  and  agriculture. 

Buffalo  Hunting.  All  Plains  tribes  seem  to  have 
practised  cooperative  hunting  in  an  organized  military- 
like  manner.  This  usually  took  the  form  of  a  surround 


MATERIAL  CULTURE 

in  which  a  large  body  of  Indians  on  swift  horses  and 
under  the  direction  of  skilled  leaders  rode  round  and 
round  a  herd  bunching  them  up  and  shooting  down  the 
animals  one  by  one.  Stirring  accounts  of  such  hunts 
have  been  left  us  by  such  eye-witnesses  as  Catlin, 
James,  and  Grinnell.  All  tribes  seem  to  have  used  this 
method  in  summer  and  it  was  almost  the  only  one 
followed  by  the  Southern  Plains  tribes. 

In  winter,  however,  when  the  northern  half  of  the 
plains  was  often  covered  with  snow,  this  method  was 
not    practised.      Alexander    Henry,    Maximilian,    and 
others,   have  described  a  favorite  winter  method  of 
impounding,   or  driving  the  herd  into  an  enclosure. 
Early    accounts    indicate    that    the    Plains-Cree    and 
Assiniboin  were  the  most  adept  in  driving  into  these  en 
closures  and  may  perhaps  have  introduced  the  method 
among  the  Plains  tribes.     The  Plains-Cree  are  but  a 
small  outlying  part  of  a  very  widely  distributed  group 
of  Cree,  the  culture  of  whose  main  body  seems  quite 
uniform.     Now,  even  the  Cree  east  of  Hudson  Bay, 
Canada,  use  a  similar  method  for  deer,  and  since  there 
is  every  reason  to  believe  that  the  Plains-Cree  are  but 
a  colony  of  the  larger  body  to  the  east,  it  seems  fair  to 
assume  that  the  method  of  impounding  buffalo  origi 
nated  with  them.     However  that  may  be,  some  form 
of  it  was  practised  by  the  Blackfoot,   Gros  Ventre, 
Hidatsa,  Mandan,  Teton-Dakota,  Arapaho,  Cheyenne, 
and  perhaps  others. 

We  have  some  early  accounts  of  another  method 
used  in  the  prairies  of  Illinois  and  Iowa.  Thus,  in 
Perrot  (121)  we  read:— 


24  INDIANS  OF  THE  PLAINS 

When  the  village  has  a  large  number  of  young  men  able  to  bear 
arms  they  divide  these  into  three  bodies;  one  takes  its  route  to  the 
right,  another  that  to  the  left,  and  half  of  the  third  party  is  divided 
between  the  two  former  ones.  One  of  these  latter  parties  goes  away 
[from  its  main  column]  a  league  or  thereabout  to  the  right,  and  the 
other  remains  on  the  left,  both  parties  forming,  each  on  its  own  side, 
a  long  file;  then  they  set  out,  in  single  file,  and  continue  their  march 
until  they  judge  that  their  line  of  men  is  sufficiently  long  for  them  to 
advance  into  the  depths  [of  the  forest].  As  they  begin  their  march  at 
midnight,  one  of  the  parties  waits  until  dawn,  while  the  others  pursue 
their  way;  and  after  they  have  marched  a  league  or  more  another 
party  waits  again  for  daylight;  the  rest  march  [until]  after  another 
half-league  has  been  covered,  and  likewise  wait.  When  the  day  has 
at  last  begun,  this  third  party  which  had  separated  to  the  right  and  the 
left  with  the  two  others  pushes  its  way  farther;  and  as  soon  as  the 
rising  sun  has  dried  off  the  dew  on  the  ground,  the  parties  on  the  right 
and  the  left,  being  in  sight  of  each  other,  come  together  in  [one]  file, 
and  close  up  the  end  of  the  circuit  which  they  intend  to  surround. 

They  commence  at  once  by  setting  fire  to  the  dried  herbage  which  is 
abundant  in  those  prairies;  those  who  occupy  the  flanks  do  the  same; 
and  at  that  moment  the  entire  village  breaks  camp,  with  all  the  old  men 
and  young  boys — who  divide  themselves  equally  on  both  sides,  move 
away  to  a  distance,  and  keep  the  hunting  parties  in  sight  so  that  they 
can  act  with  the  latter,  so  that  the  fires  can  be  lighted  on  all  four  sides 
at  once  and  gradually  communicate  the  flames  from  one  to  another. 
That  produces  the  same  effect  to  the  sight  as  four  ranks  of  palisades, 
in  which  the  buffaloes  are  enclosed.  When  the  savages  see  that  the 
animals  are  trying  to  get  outside  of  it,  in  order  to  escape  the  fires  which 
surround  them  on  all  sides  (and  this  is  the  one  thing  in  the  world  which 
they  most  fear),  they  run  at  them  and  compel  them  to  reenter  the 
enclosure;  and  they  avail  themselves  of  this  method  to  kill  all  the  beasts. 
It  is  asserted  that  there  are  some  villages  which  have  secured  as  many 
as  fifteen  hundred  buffaloes,  and  others  more  or  fewer,  according  to  the 
number  of  men  in  each  and  the  size  of  the  enclosure  which  they  make 
in  their  hunting. 

The  natural  inference  seems  to  be  that  the  grass 
firing  and  impounding  methods  of  taking '  buffalo  were 
developed  before  the  introduction  of  the  horse  and  are 
therefore  the  most  primitive.  The  individual  hunting 
of  buffalo  as  well  as  in  small  parties  was,  of  course, 


MATERIAL  CULTURE  25 

practised.  In  modern  times  swift  horses  were  used  to 
bring  the  rider  in  range  when  he  shot  down  the  fleeing 
beasts.  But  before  horses  were  known  the  cooperative 
method  must  have  prevailed. 

Hunting  Implements.  The  implements  used  for 
killing  buffalo  were  not  readily  displaced  by  guns. 
Bows  and  arrows  were  used  long  after  guns  were  com 
mon.  In  fact,  pioneers  maintain  that  at  close  range 
the  rapidity  and  precision  of  the  bow  was  only  to  be 
excelled  by  the  repeating  rifle,  a  weapon  developed  in 
the  70's.  Even  so,  the  bow  was  not  entirely  discarded 
until  the  buffalo  became  extinct.  The  bows  were  of 
two  general  types;  the  plain  wooden  bow,  and  the 
sinew-backed,  or  compound  bow.  It  is  generally  held 
that  the  tribes  east  of  the  Mississippi  River  used  the 
simple  wooden  bow  while  those  on  the  Pacific  Coast 
used  the  sinew-backed  type.  It  is  quite  natural,  there 
fore,  that  among  the  Plains  tribes,  we  should  find  both 
types  in  general  use  and  that  the  sinew-backed  was 
more  common  among  the  Shoshoni  and  other  Plateau 
tribes. 

Some  curious  bows  were  made  from  mountain  sheep 
horn  backed  with  sinew,  a  fine  example  of  which  is  to 
be  seen  in  the  Nez  Perce  collection  (Fig.  1).  The 
Crow,  Hidatsa,  and  Mandan  sometimes  used  a  bow 
of  elkhorn,  probably  one  of  the  finest  examples  of 
Indian  workmanship:  "They  take  a  large  horn  or 
prong,  and  saw  a  slice  off  each  side  of  it;  these  slices 
are  then  filed  or  rubbed  down  until  the  flat  sides  fit 
nicely  together,  when  they  are  glued  and  wrapped  at 


26  INDIANS  OF  THE  PLAINS 

the  ends.  Four  slices  make  a  bow,  it  being  jointed. 
Another  piece  of  horn  is  laid  on  the  center  of  the  bow 
at  the  grasp,  where  it  is  glued  fast.  The  whole  is  then 
filed  down  until  it  is  perfectly  proportioned,  when  the 


Fig.  1.     Sinew-backed  Bow  and  Quiver  from  the  Blackfoot  and  a 
Compound  Bow  of  Mountain  Sheep  Horn  from  the  Nez  Perec. 


MATERIAL  CULTURE 


27 


white  bone  is  ornamented,  carved,  and  painted.  Noth 
ing  can  exceed  the  beauty  of  these  bows,  and  it  takes 
an  Indian  about  three  months  to  make  one."  (Belden, 
112.)  All  these  compound  bows  are  sinew-backed, 
it  being  the  sinew  that  gives  them  efficiency.  Some 
fine  old  wooden  bows  may  be  seen  in  the  Museum's 
Dakota  collection. 


Fig.  2.     Lance  with  Obsidian  Point.    Nez  Perce. 

A  lance  was  frequently  used  for  buffalo :  in  the  hands 
of  a  powerful  horseman,  this  is  said  to  have  been  quite 
effective.  There  is  a  stone-pointed  lance  in  the  Nez 
Perce  collection  which  may  be  of  the  type  formerly 
used,  Fig.  2.  Wounded  animals  and  those  in  the 
enclosure  of  the  pound  were  often  brought  down  by 
knocking  on  the  head  with  stone-headed  clubs  and 
mauls. 

Pemmican.  As  buffalo  could  not  be  killed  every 
day,  some  method  of  preserving  their  flesh  in  an  eatable 
condition  was  necessary  to  the  well-being  of  the  Plains 
Indian.  The  usual  method  was  by  drying  in  the  sun. 
Steaks  were  cut  broad  and  thin,  and  slashed  by  short 
cuts  which  gaped  open  when  the  pieces  were  suspended, 


28 


INDIANS  OF  THE  PLAINS 


giving  the  appearance  of  holes.  These  steaks  were 
often  placed  in  boiling  water  for  a  few  moments  and 
then  hung  upon  poles  or  racks  out  of  reach  of  dogs. 
In  the  course  of  a  few  days,  if  kept  free  from  moisture, 
the  meat  became  hard  and  dry.  It  could  then  be 
stored  in  bags  for  future  use.  Fat,  also,  could  be 
dried  if  slightly  boiled. 


Fig.  3.     Meat  Drying  Rack.    Blackfoot. 

Dried  meat  of  the  buffalo  and  sometimes  of  the  elk 
was  often  pounded  fine,  making  what  was  known  as 
pemmican.  While  some  form  of  pemmican  was  used 
in  many  parts  of  North  America,  the  most  characteristic 
kind  among  the  Plains  Indians  was  the  berry  pemmican. 
To  make  this,  the  best  cuts  of  the  buffalo  were  dried 
in  the  usual  manner.  During  the  berry  season  wild 
cherries  (Prunus  demissa)  were  gathered  and  crushed 


MATERIAL  CULTURE 


29 


with  stones,  pulverizing  the  pits,  and  reducing  the 
whole  to  a  thick  paste  \vhich  was  partially  dried  in  the 
sun.  Then  the  dried  meat  was  softened  by  holding 
over  a  fire,  after  which  it  was  pounded  fine  with  a  stone 
or  stone-headed  maul.  In  the  Dakota  collection  may 
be  seen  some  interesting  rawhide  mortars  for  this 
purpose.  This  pulverized  meat  was  mixed  with  melted 
fat  and  marrow,  to  which  was  added  the  dried  but 
sticky  cherry  paste.  The  whole  mass  was  then  packed 
in  a  long,  flat  rawhide  bag,  called  a  parfleche.  With 


Fig.  4.     Stone-headed  Pounders. 

proper  care,  such  pemmican  would  keep  for  years. 
In  pioneer  days,  it  was  greatly  prized  by  white  trappers 
and  soldiers. 

Agriculture.  Almost  without  exception,  the  Village 
group  of  tribes  made  at  least  some  attempts  to  cultivate 
maize.  Of  the  northern  tribes,  none  have  been  credited 
with  this  practice,  except  perhaps  the  Teton-Dakota. 


30  INDIANS  OF   THE  PLAINS 

Yet,  the  earlier  observers  usually  distinguish  the  Teton 
from  the  Eastern  Dakota  by  their  non-agricultural 
habits.  Of  the  southern  tribes,  we  cannot  be  so  sure. 
The  Cheyenne,  who  seem  to  have  abandoned  a  forest 
home  for  the  plains  just  before  the  historic  period  have 
traditions  of  maize  culture,  but  seem  to  have  discon 
tinued  it  soon  after  going  into  the  buffalo  country. 
The  Arapaho  are  thought  by  some  anthropologists  to 
have  preceded  the  Cheyenne.  Yet  while  many  writers 
are  disposed  to  admit  that  all  of  the  southern  group 
may  have  made  some  attempts  at  maize  growing,  they 
insist  that  these  were  feeble  in  comparison  with  the 
Village  tribes.  When,  however,  we  turn  to  the  Plateau 
area,  there  are  no  traces  of  maize  growing.  In  asso 
ciation  with  maize  it  was  usual  to  raise  some  varieties 
of  squash  and  beans. 

Thus,  in  a  general  way,  the  practice  of  agriculture 
seems  to  dwindle  out  gradually  as  we  leave  the  more 
fertile  river  bottoms  of  the  east  and  south,  suggesting 
that  its  positive  absence  among  the  extreme  western 
and  northern  tribes  is  due  to  unfavorable  soil  and 
climate  rather  than  to  any  mental  or  social  differences  in 
the  tribes  concerned.  This  is  consistent  with  the  wide 
distribution  of  tobacco  raising.  The  Blackfoot,  Crow, 
Hidatsa,  Mandan,  Arikara,  Pawnee,  and  Eastern  Dakota 
are  known  to  have  cultivated  it  for  ceremonial  purposes. 

The  plants  have  not  been  closely  studied,  but  that 
of  the  Hidatsa  and  Mandan  is  Nicotiana  quadrivalvis. 
It  is  probable  that  this  is  the  species  among  the  other 
tribes,  with  the  exception  of  the  Crow  and  Blackfoot. 


MATERIAL  CULTURE  31 

The  latter  has  been  pronounced  Nicotiana  attenuata  and 
Crow  tobacco  is  multivalvis.  The  last  is  said  to  be  a 
native  of  Oregon  and  to  have  been  cultivated  by  tribes 
in  the  Columbia  River  valley.  The  fact  that  the  Black- 
foot  and  Crow  did  not  attempt  any  other  agriculture 
except  the  raising  of  this  tobacco  rather  strengthens 
the  previous  opinion  that  maize  was  not  produced  be 
cause  of  the  unfavorable  conditions.  Among  the  tribes 
of  the  Plateau  area,  on  the  western  border  of  the  Plains, 
wild  seeds  and  grains  were  gathered  and  so  took  the 
place  of  maize  in  the  east.  So  we  find  the  Shoshoni  and 
Ute  making  some  use  of  such  foods.  On  the  other 
hand,  the  northern  and  southern  Plains  groups,  de 
pended  mostly  upon  dried  berries  and  edible  roots, 
which,  however,  were  a  relatively  small  part  of  their 
diet,  buffalo  flesh  being  the  important  food.  This  was 
particularly  true  of  the  nine  typical  tribes.  With  these 
tribes,  the  buffalo  was  not  only  food:  but  his  by 
products,  such  as  skin,  bones,  hair,  horns,  and  sinew, 
were  the  chief  materials  for  costume,  tents,  and  utensils 
of  all  kinds. 

Transportation.  Before  the  introduction  of  the 
horse,  the  Plains  Indians  traveled  on  foot.  The  tribes 
living  along  the  Mississippi  made  some  use  of  canoes, 
according  to  early  accounts,  while  those  of  the  Missouri 
and  inland,  used  only  crude  tub-like  affairs  for  ferry 
purpose.  When  first  discovered,  the  Mandan,  Hidat- 
sa,  and  Arikara  had  villages  on  the  Missouri,  in  what  is 
now  North  Dakota,  but  they  have  never  been  credited 
with  canoes.  For  crossing  the  river,  they  used  the  bull- 


32 


INDIANS  OF  THE  PLAINS 


boat,  a  tub-shaped  affair  made  by  stretching  buffalo 
skins  over  a  wooden  frame;  but  journeys  up  and  down 
the  bank  were  made  on  foot.  Many  of  the  Eastern 


Fig.  5.     Crossing  the  Missouri  in  a  Bull-Boat. 
(Wilson  photo.) 

Dakota  used  small  canoes  in  gathering  wild  rice  in  the 
small  lakes  of  Minnesota,  though  the  Teton-Dakota 
have  not  been  credited  with  the  practice.  It  seems 
probable  that  the  ease  of  travel  in  the  open  plains  and 
the  fact  that  the  buffalo  were  often  to  be  found  inland, 


MATERIAL  CULTURE  33 

made  the  use  of  canoes  impractical,  whereas  along  the 
great  lakes  the  broad  expanse  of  water  offered  every 
advantage  to  their  use.  Since  almost  every  Plains 
tribe  used  some  form  of  the  bull-boat  for  ferrying,  and 
many  of  them  came  in  contact  with  canoe-using 
Indians,  the  failure  of  those  living  along  the  Missouri 
to  develop  the  canoe  can  scarcely  be  attributed  to 
ignorance. 

When  on  the  march,  baggage  was  carried  on  the 
human  back  and  also  by  dogs,  the  only  aboriginal 
domestic  animals.  Most  tribes  used  a  peculiar  A- 
shaped  contrivance,  known  as  a  dog  travois,  upon  which 
packs  were  placed.  All  the  northern  tribes  are  credited 
with  the  dog  travois.  Many  of  the  Village  tribes  also 
used  it,  as  did  also  some  of  the  southern  group.  With 
the  introduction  of  the  horse,  a  larger  but  similar 
travois  was  used.  This,  however,  did  not  entirely  dis 
place  the  dog  travois  as  Catlin's  sketches  show  Indians 
on  the  march  with  both  horses  and  dogs  harnessed  to 
travois.  The  travois  of  the  northern  tribes  were  of  two 
types :  rectangular  cross-frames  and  oval  netted  frames, 
Fig.  6.  The  Blackfoot,  Sarsi  and  Gros  Ventre  inclined 
toward  the  former;  the  Assiniboin,  Dakota,  Hidatsa, 
and  Mandan  toward  the  latter,  though  both  types  were 
often  used  simultaneously.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
southern  tribes  seem  to  have  inclined  toward  an  im 
provised  travois  formed  by  binding  tipi  poles  to  the 
sides  of  the  saddle  and  slinging  the  pack  across  behind. 

The  use  of  a  sled  on  the  ice  or  snow  has  not  been 
credited  to  any  except  some  of  the  Eastern  Dakota 


INDIANS  OF  THE  PLAINS 


Fig  6.     Blackfoot  Travois. 


MATERIAL  CULTURE 


35 


and  the  Mandan  and  among  them  it  is  quite  probable 
that  it  was  introduced  by  white  traders. 

The  riding  gear  and  horse  trappings  that  always 
form  an  interesting  part  of  collections,  naturally  came 


Fig.  7.     Assiniboin  Dog  Travels. 

in  with  the  horse  and  followed  European  models.  The 
native  bridle  was  a  simple  rope  or  thong  looped  around 
the  jaw.  Saddles  were  of  two  types;  pads  and  frames. 
The  latter  were  made  of  wood  or  elkhorn  securely 
bound  with  fresh  buffalo  hide  which  shrunk  as  it  dried. 
The  Mills  Catlin  collection  contains  a  sketch  showing 
how  one  of  the  saddles  is  staked  down  to  the  ground 
while  the  wet  rawhide  sets  in  place.  Women's  saddles 
had  very  high  pommels  and  were  often  gaily  ornamented. 
Stirrups  were  also  made  of  wood  bound  with  rawhide. 


36  INDIANS  OF  THE  PLAINS 

Some  tribes,  the  Dakota  for  example,  used  highly 
decorated  saddle  blankets,  or  skins;  while  others 
(Crow,  Blackfoot,  etc.)  used  elaborate  cruppers.  Quirts 
with  short  handles  of  elkhorn  or  wood  were  common. 
In  fact,  there  was  little  difference  in  the  form  of  riding 
gear  among  all  the  Plains  tribes. 

The  nine  typical  tribes  were  more  or  less  always  on 
the  move.  All  their  possessions  were  especially  de 
signed  for  ready  transport.  Nearly  all  receptacles 
and  most  utensils  were  made  of  rawhide,  while  the  tipi, 
or  tent,  was  easily  rolled  up  and  placed  upon  a  travois. 
When  the  chief  gave  out  the  order  to  break  camp  it 
took  but  a  few  minutes  for  the  women  to  have  every 
thing  loaded  on  travois  and  ready  for  the  march.  Even 
the  Village  group  used  tipis  and  horses  when  on  the 
buffalo  hunt  (p.  19).  The  smaller  baggage  was  often 
loaded  upon  dog  travois.  We  have  no  accurate  data 
as  to  how  the  camp  was  moved  before  horses  came  into 
the  country,  but  the  process  was  certainly  more 
laborious  and  the  marches  shorter. 

The  Tipi.  One  of  the  most  characteristic  features 
of  Plains  Indian  culture  was  the  tipi.  All  the  tribes 
of  the  area,  almost  without  exception,  used  it  for  a 
part  of  the  year  at  least.  Primarily,  the  tipi  was  a 
conical  tent  covered  with  dressed  buffalo  skins.  A 
carefully  mounted  and  equipped  tipi  from  the  Black- 
foot  Indians  stands  in  the  center  of  the  Plains  exhibit. 
Everywhere  the  tipi  was  made,  cared  for,  and  set  up 
by  the  women.  First,  a  conical  framework  of  long 
slender  poles  was  erected  and  the  cover  raised  into 


MATERIAL  CULTURE  37 

place.  Then  the  edges  of  the  cover  were  staked  down 
and  the  poles  supporting  the  '"ears"  put  in  place. 
The  "ears"  are  wings,  or  flies,  to  keep  the  wind  out  of 
the  smoke  hole  at  the  top;  they  were  moved  about  by 
the  outside  poles.  The  fire  was  built  near  the  center 
and  the  beds  spread  upon  the  ground  around  the  sides. 
The  head  of  the  family  usually  sat  near  the  rear,  or 
facing  the  door. 

While  in  essential  features  the  tipis  of  all  Plains 
tribes  were  the  same,  there  were  nevertheless  some 
important  differences.  Thus,  when  setting  up  a  tipi, 
the  Blackfoot,  Crow,  Sarsi,  Hidatsa,  Omaha,  and 
Comanche  first  tie  four  poles  as  a  support  to  the  others; 
while  the  Teton-Dakota,  Assiniboin,  Cheyenne,  Gros 
Ventre,  Arapaho,  Kiowa,  Plains-Cree,  Mandan,  and 
Pawnee  use  three,  or  a  tripod  foundation.  For  the 
remaining  tribes,  we  lack  data,  but  it  seems  safe  to 
assume  that  they  follow  one  or  the  other  of  these 
methods.  The  three-pole  foundation  gives  the  pro 
jecting  tops  of  the  poles  a  spiral  appearance  while  the 
four-pole  beginning  tends  to  group  them  on  the  sides. 
Thus,  to  a  practised  eye,  the  difference  is  plain.  The 
covers,  ears,  doors,  etc.,  are  quite  similar  throughout. 
The  shapes  of  tipis,  however,  show  some  differences. 
Thus,  the  Cheyenne  prefer  a  wide  base  in  proportion 
to  the  height  while  the  Arapaho  prefer  a  narrow  base. 
Again,  the  Crow  use  very  long  poles,  the  ends  pro 
jecting  out  above  like  a  great  funnel. 

It  is  important  to  note  that  the  use  of  the  tipi  is  not 
confined  to  the  plains.  The  O  jib  way  along  the  Lakes 
used  it,  but  covered  it  with  birchbark  as  did  also  manv 


38  INDIANS  OF  THE  PLAINS 

of  the  Cree  and  tribes  formerly  established  in  eastern 
Canada  and  New  England.  Even  the  Eastern  Dakota 
in  early  days  used  birchbark  for  tipi  covers.  A  tipi-like 
skin-covered  tent  was  in  general  use  among  the  Indians 
of  Labrador  and  westward  throughout  the  entire 
Mackenzie  area  of  Canada.  To  the  west,  the  Plains 
tipi  was  found  among  the'Nez  Perce,  Flathead,  Cayuse, 
and  Umatilla;  to  the  southwest,  among  the  Apache. 
It  is  well-nigh  impossible  to  determine  what  tribes  first 
originated  this  type  of  shelter,  though  a  comparison 
of  the  details  of  structure  might  give  some  definite 
clues.  Yet,  one  thing  is  clear;  viz.,  that  it  was  espe 
cially  adapted  to  the  roving  life  of  the  Plains  tribes 
when  pursuing  the  buffalo. 

Earth=Lodges.  Before  going  further,  we  must  needs 
recall  that  the  tipi  was  not  the  only  type  of  shelter  used 
by  these  Indians.  The  Mandan,  Hidatsa,  and  Arikara 
lived  in  more  or  less  permanent  villages  of  curious 
earth-covered  lodges.  The  following  description  of  a 
Hidatsa  house  may  serve  as  a  type: — 

On  the  site  of  a  proposed  lodge,  they  often  dig  down  a  foot  or  more 
in  order  to  find  earth  compact  enough  to  form  a  good  floor;  so,  in  some 
lodges,  the  floors  are  lower  than  the  general  surface  of  the  ground  on 
which  the  village  stands.  The  floor  is  of  earth,  and  has  in  its  center  a 
circular  depression,  for  a  fire-place,  about  a  foot  deep,  and  three  or  four 
feet  wide,  with  an  edging  of  flat  rocks.  These  dwellings,  being  from 
thirty  to  forty  feet  in  diameter,  from  ten  to  fifteen  feet  high  in  the 
center,  and  from  five  to  seven  feet  high  at  the  eaves,  are  quite  com 
modious. 

The  frame  of  a  lodge  is  thus  made: — A  number  of  stout  posts,  from 
ten  to  fifteen,  according  to  the  size  of  the  lodge,  and  rising  to  the  height 
of  about  five  feet  above  the  surface  of  the  earth,  are  set  about  ten  feet 
apart  in  a  circle.  On  the  tops  of  these  posts,  solid  beams  are  laid,  ex 
tending  from  one  to  another.  Then,  toward  the  center  of  the  lodge, 


Fig.  8.     Setting  up  a  Crow  Tipi. 
(Tetzold  photo.) 


40  INDIANS  OF  THE  PLAINS 

four  more  posts  are  erected,  of  much  greater  diameter  than  the  outer 
posts,  and  rising  to  the  height  of  ten  or  more  feet  above  the  ground. 
These  four  posts  stand  in  the  corners  of  a  square  of  about  fifteen  feet, 
and  their  tops  are  connected  with  four  heavy  logs  or  beams  laid  hori 
zontally.  From  the  four  central  beams  to  the  smaller  external  beams, 
long  poles,  as  rafters,  are  stretched  at  an  angle  of  about  30°  with  the 
horizon;  and  from  the  outer  beams  to  the  earth  a  number  of  shorter 
poles  are  laid  at  an  angle  of  about  45°.  Finally  a  number  of  saplings 
or  rails  are  laid  horizontally  to  cover  the  space  between  the  four  central 
beams,  leaving  only  a  hole  for  the  combined  skylight  and  chimney. 
This  frame  is  then  covered  with  willows,  hay,  and  earth,  as  before  men 
tioned;  the  covering  being  of  equal  depth  over  all  parts  of  the  frame. 
(Matthews,  4-5). 

Houses  of  approximately  the  same  type  were  used 
by  the  Pawnee,  Omaha,  Ponca,  Kansa,  Missouri,  and 
Oto.  The  Osage,  on  the  other  hand,  are  credited  with 
the  use  of  dome-shaped  houses  covered  with  mats  and 
bark,  like  the  0  jib  way  and  other  Woodland  tribes. 
The  Hidatsa  type  of  lodge  is,  unlike  the  tipi,  definitely 
localized  along  the  Missouri  and  the  Platte,  giving  one 
the  impression  that  it  must  have  originated  within  this 
territory.  The  Omaha  claim  to  have  originally  used 
tipis  and  to  have  learned  the  use  of  earth-lodges  from 
the  Arikara;  likewise  the  Skidi-Pawnee  claim  the  tipi 
as  formerly  their  own  dwelling.  However,  all  these 
tribes  used  tipis  when  on  summer  and  winter  trips  after 
buffalo  (p.  21). 

Some  of  the  Eastern  Dakota  lived  for  a  part  of  the 
year  in  rectangular  cabins  of  bark  and  poles  as  did  some 
of  the  Woodland  tribes.  On  the  west,  an  oval  or 
conical  brush  or  grass  shelter  seems  to  have  preceded 
the  tipi.  The  Comanche  were  seen  using  both  this 
western  type  of  brush  lodge  and  the  tipi  in  1853.  The 


MATERIAL  CULTURE 


41 


Northern  Shoshoni  have  also  been  observed  with 
brush  lodges  and  tipis  in  the  same  camp.  These 
instances  are  probably  examples  of  a  transition  in 
culture.  Thus,  we  see  how  even  among  the  less  civilized1 
peoples  all  are  prone  to  be  influenced  by  the  culture  of 


Fig.  9.     Hidatsa  Village  in  1868. 

(The  low  earth-covered  lodges  are  obscured  by  the  poles  of  drying- 
frames.    Morrow  photo  reproduced  by  F.  N.  Wilson.) 

their  neighbors  and  that  in  consequence,  cultures  grade 
into  one  another  according  to  geographical  relations. 

Another  curious  thing  is  that  all  the  tribes  raising 
maize  used  earth  or  bark  houses,  but  as  a  rule  lived  in 
them  only  while  planting,  tending,  and  harvesting  the 


42  INDIANS  OF  THE  PLAINS 

crop.  At  other  times,  they  took  to  tipis.  Even  in 
mid-winter  the  Omaha  and  Eastern  Dakota  lived  in 
tipis. 

A  unique  and  exceptional  type  of  shelter  was  used 
by  the  Wichita  and  the  related  Caddoan  tribes  of  the 
Southeastern  culture  area.  This  is  known  as  a  grass 
lodge.  It  consists  of  a  dome-shaped  structure  of  poles 
thatched  with  grass  and  given  an  ornamental 
appearance  by  the  regular  spacing  of  extra  bunches  of 
thatch.  Formerly,  each  of  these  houses  had  four  doors, 
east,  west,  north,  and  south,  and  four  poles  projected 
from  the  roof  in  the  respective  directions. 

Dress.  The  men  of  the  Plains  were  not  elaborately 
clothed.  At  home,  they  usually  went  about  in  breech- 
cloth  and  moccasins.  The  former  was  a  broad  strip  of 
cloth  drawn  up  between  the  legs  and  passed  under  the 
belt  both  behind  and  before.  There  is  some  reason  for 
believing  that  even  this  was  introduced  by  white 
traders,  the  more  primitive  form  being  a  small  apron 
of  dressed  skin.  At  all  seasons  a  man  kept  at  hand  a 
soft  tanned  buffalo  robe  in  which  he  tastefully  swathed 
his  person  when  appearing  in  public.  This  was  uni 
versally  true  of  all,  with  the  possible  exception  of  some 
southern  tribes.  In  the  Plateau  area,  the  most  common 
for  winter  were  robes  of  antelope,  elk,  and  mountain 
sheep,  while  in  summer  elkskins  without  the  hair  were 
worn.  Beaver  skins  and  those  of  other  small  animals 
were  sometimes  pieced  together.  According  to  Grinnell, 
the  Blackfoot,  east  of  the  Rocky  Mountains,  also  used 
these  various  forms  of  robes.  Again,  the  Plateau  tribes 


MATERIAL  CULTURE 


43 


sometimes  used  a  curious  woven  blanket  of  strips  of 
rabbitskin  also  widely  used  in  Canada  and  the  South 
west.  So  far  this  type  of  blanket  has  not  been  reported 
for  the  Plains  tribes  east  of  the  mountains. 


Fig.  10.  One-piece  Moccasin  Pattern.  That  part  of  the  pattern 
marked  a  forms  the  upper  side  of  the  moccasin;  6,  the  sole;  e,  the 
tongue;  /,  the  trailer.  The  leather  is  folded  lengthwise,  along  the 
dotted  line,  the  points  c  and  d  are  brought  together  and  the  edges  sewed 
along  to  the  point  g,  which  makes  a  seam  the  whole  length  of  the  foot 
and  around  the  toes.  The  vertical  heel  seam  is  formed  by  sewing 
c  and  d  now  joined  to  h,  f  projecting.  The  strips  c  and  d  are  each,  half 
the  width  of  that  marked  h,  consequently  the  side  seam  at  the  heel  is 
half  way  between  the  top  of  the  moccasin  and  the  sole,  but  reaches  the 
level  at  the  toes.  As  the  sides  of  this  moccasin  are  not  high  enough  for 
the  wearer's  comfort,  an  extension  or  ankle  flap  is  sewed  on,  varying 
from  two  to  six  inches  in  width,  cut  long  enough  to  overlap  in  front  and 
held  in  place  by  means  of  the  usual  drawstring  or  lacing  around  the 
ankle. 

Everywhere,  we  find  no  differences  between  the 
robes  of  men  and  women  except  in  their  decorations. 
The  buffalo  robes  were  usually  the  entire  skins  with  the 


44 


INDIANS  OF  THE  PLAINS 


tail.  Among  most  tribes,  this  robe  was  worn  horizon 
tally  with  the  tail  on  the  right  hand  side.  Light,  dur 
able,  and  gaily  colored  blankets  were  later  introduced 
by^traders  and  are  even  now  in  general  use. 

Moccasins  were  worn  by  all,  the  sandals  of  the 
Southwest  and  Mexico  not  being  credited  to  these 
Indians.  The  two  general  structural  types  of  mocca- 


Fig.  11.  Two-piece  Moccasin  Pattern.  This  type  prevails  in  the 
Plains.  The  soles  are  of  stiff  rawhide.  They  conform  generally  to  the 
outlines  of  the  foot.  The  uppers  are  cut  as  shown  in  the  patterns 
though  sometimes  the  tongue  is  separate.  An  ankle  flap  is  added. 

sins  in  North  America  are  the  one-piece,  or  soft-soled 
moccasin,  and  the  two-piece,  or  hard-soled.  The 
latter  prevails  among  these  Indians,  while  the  former 
is  general  among  forest  Indians.  A  Blackfoot  moccasin 
of  a  simple  two-piece  pattern  is  shown  in  Fig.  11. 
The  upper  is  made  of  soft  tanned  skin  and  after  finish- 


MATERIAL  CULTURE  45 

ing  and  decorating  is  sewed  to  a  rawhide  sole  cut 
to  fit  the  foot  of  the  wearer.  A  top,  or  vamp, 
may  be  added. 

The  pattern  for  a  Blackfoot  one-piece  moccasin  is 
shown  in  Fig.  10.  Our  collections  show  that  this 
type  occurs  occasionally  among  the  Sarsi,  Blackfoot, 
Plains-Cree,  Assiniboin,  Gros  Ventre,  Northern  Sho- 
shoni,  Omaha,  Pawnee,  and  Eastern  Dakota.  So  far, 
it  has  not  been  reported  for  any  of  the  southern  tribes. 
Among  many  of  the  foregoing,  this  form  seems  to  have 
been  preferred  for  winter  wear,  using  buffalo  skin  with 
the  hair  inside.  Again,  since  all  the  tribes  to  the  north 
and  east  of  these  Indians  used  the  one-piece  moccasin 
all  the  year  round,  its  presence  in  this  part  of  the  Plains 
is  quite  natural. 

To  the  south,  we  find  a  combined  stiff-soled  moccasin 
and  legging  to  be  seen  among  the  Arapaho,  Ute,  and 
Comanche.  This  again  seems  to  be  related  to  a  boot 
type  of  moccasin  found  in  parts  of  the  Southwest. 

So,  in  general,  the  hard-soled  moccasin  is  the  type 
for  these  Indians.  Old  frontiersmen  claim  that  from 
the  tracks  of  a  war  party,  the  tribe  could  be  determined; 
this  is  in  a  measure  true,  for  each  had  some  distinguish 
ing  secondary  feature,  such  as  heel  fringes,  toe  forms, 
etc.,  that  left  their  marks  in  the  dust  of  the  trail. 
Ornaments  and  decoration  will,  however,  be  discussed 
under  another  head. 

Almost  everywhere  the  men  wore  long  leggings  tied 
to  the  belt.  Women's  leggings  were  short,  extending 
from  the  ankle  to  the  knee  and  supported  by  garters. 


46 


INDIANS  OF  THE  PLAINS 


Some  of  the  most  conspicuous  objects  in  the  collec 
tions  are  the  so-called  war,  or  scalp  shirts,  Fig.  12. 
One  of  the  oldest  was  obtained  by  Col.  Sword  in  1838 


Fig.  12.     Man's  Shirt.     Blackfoot. 

and  seems  to  be  Dakota  (Sioux).  It  is  of  deerskin: 
Some  fine  examples  are  credited  to  the  Teton-Dakota, 
Crow,  and  Blackfoot,  though  almost  every  tribe  had 
them  in  late  years.  This  type,  however,  should  not  be 
taken  as  a  regular  costume.  Though  in  quite  recent 


MATERIAL  CULTURE  47 

years  it  has  become  a  kind  of  tuxedo,  it  was  formerly  the 
more  or  less  exclusive    uniform  of  important  function 
aries.    On  the  other  hand,  the  shirt  itself,  stripped  of  its 
ornaments  and  accessories  seems  to  be  of  the  precise 
pattern  once  worn  in  daily  routine.     Yet,  the  indica 
tions  are  that  as  a  regular  costume,  the  shirt  was  by  no 
means  in  general  use.     The  Cree,   Dene,   and  other 
tribes  of  central  Canada  wore  leather  shirts,  no  doubt 
because  of  the    severe  winters.    We  also  have  positive 
knowledge  of  their  early  use  by  the  Blackfoot,  Assini- 
boin,  Crow,  Dakota,  Plains-Cree,  Nez  Perce,  Northern 
Shoshoni,  Gros  Ventre,  and  on  the  other  hand  of  their 
absence  among  the  Mandan,  Hidatsa,  Arikara,  Pawnee, 
Osage,    Kiowa,    Cheyenne,   Arapaho,    and   Comanche. 
Thus,  the  common  shirt  was  after  all  not  typical  of  the 
Plains  Indians:    it  is  only  recently  that  the  special 
decorated  .form  so  characteristic    of    the    Assiniboin, 
Crow,  Blackfoot,  and  Dakota  has  come  into  general 
use.     Several  interesting  points  may  be  noted  in  the 
detailed  structure  of  these  shirts,  but  we  must  pass  on. 
For  the  head  there  was  no  special  covering.    Yet  in 
winter  the  Blackfoot,  Plains-Cree,  and  perhaps  others 
in  the  north,  often  wore  fur  caps.    In  the  south  and  west 
the  head  was  bare,  but  the  eyes  were  sometimes  pro 
tected  by  simple  shades  of  rawhide.     So,  in  general, 
both  sexes  in  the  Plains  went  bare-headed,  though  the 
robe  was  often  pulled  up  forming  a  kind  of  temporary 
hood. 

Mittens  and  gloves  seem  to  have  been  introduced  by 
the  whites,  though  they  appear  to  have  been  native  in 
other  parts  of  the  continent. 


48 


INDIANS  OF  THE  PLAINS 


Fig.  13.     Costumed  Figure  of  a  Dakota  Woman. 


MATERIAL  CULTURE 


49 


The  women  of  all  tribes  wore  more  clothing  than  the 
men.  The  most  typical  garment  was  the  sleeveless 
dress,  a  one-piece  garment,  an  excellent  example  of 


Fig.  14.     Woman's  Dress  of  Elkskin.     Audubon. 

which  is  to  be  seen  in  the  Audubon  collection,  Fig.  14. 
This  type  was  used  by  the  Hidatsa,  Mandan,  Crow, 
Dakota,  Arapaho,  Ute,  Kiowa,  Comanche,  Sarsi, 
Gros  Ventre,  Assiniboin,  and  perhaps  others.  A  slight 


50  INDIANS  OF  THE  PLAINS 

variant  is  reported  for  the  Nez  Perce,  Northern  Sho- 
shoni,  and  Plains-Cree  in  that  the  extensions  of  the 
cape  are  formed  into  a  tight-fitting  sleeve.  Some 
writers  claim  that  in  early  days  the  Assiniboin  and 
Blackfoot  women  also  used  this  form.  Formerly,  the 
Cheyenne,  Osage,  and  Pawnee  women  wore  a  two- 
piece  garment  consisting  of  a  skirt  and  a  cape,  a  form 
typical  of  the  Woodland  Indians  of  the  east. 

A  close  study  of  Plains  costumes  will  disclose  that  in 
spite  of  one  general  pattern,  there  are  tribal  styles.  In 
the  first  place,  all  dresses  show  the  same  main  outline, 
curious  open  hanging  sleeves,  and  a  bottom  of  four 
appendages  of  which  those  at  the  sides  are  longest  (Fig. 
14).  Almost  without  exception  these  dresses  are  made 
of  two  elkskins,  the  natural  contour  of  which  is  shown  in 
Fig.  15.  The  sewing  of  these  together  gives  the  pattern 
of  the  garment,  which  is  modified  by  trimming  or  piecing 
the  edges  as  the  tribal  style  may  require.  This  is  a 
particularly  good  example  of  how  the  form  of  a  costume 
may  be  determined  by  the  material.  The  distribution  of 
tribal  variations  in  these  dress  patterns  is  shown  in 
Fig.  16. 

The  shirts  for  men  are  also  made  of  two  deerskins  on 
a  slightly  different  pattern,  but  one  in  which  the  natural 
contour  of  the  skin  is  the  determining  factor. 

The  manner  of  dressing  the  hair  is  often  a  conspicu 
ous  conventional  feature.  Many  of  the  Plains  tribes 
wore  it  uncropped.  Among  the  northern  tribes  the  men 
frequently  gathered  the  hair  in  two  braids  but  in  the 
extreme  west  and  among  some  of  the  southern  tribes, 


MATERIAL  CULTURE 


51 


Fig.  15.  A  Woman's  Dress  made  from  Two  Deerskins  (A,  A' 
folded  and  pieced  (B,  C,  B',  C').  The  skins  are  folded  on  the  dott?.:l 
line  and  sewed  together,  leaving  a  hole  for  the  head. 


52 


INDIANS  OF  THE  PLAINS 


Fig.  16.     Distribution  of  the  Plains  Type  of  Woman's  Dress. 


MATERIAL  CULTURE  53 

both  sexes  usually  wore  it  loose  on  the  shoulders  and 
back.  The  Crow  men  sometimes  cropped  the  forelock 
and  trained  it  to  stand  erect;  the  Blackfoot,  Assini- 
boin,  Yankton-Dakota,  Hidatsa,  Mandan,  Arikara, 
and  Kiowa  trained  a  forelock  to  hang  down  over  the 
nose.  Early  writers  report  a  general  practice  of  arti 
ficially  lengthening  men's  hair  by  gumming  on  extra 
strands  until  it  sometimes  dragged  on  the  ground. 

The  hair  of  women  throughout  the  Plains  was  usually 
worn  in  the  two-braid  fashion  with  the  median  part 
from  the  forehead  to  the  neck.  Old  women  frequently 
allowed  the  hair  to  hang  down  at  the  sides  or  confined 
it  by  a  simple  headband. 

Again,  we  find  exceptions  in  that  the  Oto,  Osage, 
Pawnee,  and  Omaha  closely  cropped  the  sides  of  the 
head,  leaving  a  ridge  or  tuft  across  the  crown  and  down 
behind.  It  is  almost  certain  that  the  Ponca  once 
followed  the  same  style  and  there  is  a  tradition  among 
the  Oglala  division  of  the  Teton-Dakota  that  they  also 
shaved  the  sides  of  the  head.  (See  also  History  of  the 
Expedition  of  Lewis  and  Clark,  Reprinted,  New  York, 
1902,  Vol.  1,  p.  135.)  We  may  say  then  that  the  love 
of  long  heavy  tresses  was  a  typical  trait  of  the  Plains. 

By  the  public  every  Indian  is  expected  to  have  his 
hair  thickly  decked  with  feathers.  The  striking 
feather  bonnets  with  long  tails  usually  seen  in  pictures 
were  exceptional  and  formerly  permitted  only  to  a  few 
distinguished  men.  They  are  most  characteristic  of 
the  Dakota.  Even  a  common  eagle  feather  in  the  hair 
of  a  Dakota  had  some  military  significance  according 


54  INDIANS  OF  THE  PLAINS 

to  its  form  and  position.  On  the  other  hand,  objects 
tied  in  a  Blackfoot's  hair  were  almost  certain  to  have  a 
charm  value.  So  far  as  we  know,  among  all  tribes, 
objects  placed  in  the  hair  of  men  usually  had  more  than 
a  mere  aesthetic  significance. 

Beads  for  the  neck,  ear  ornaments,  necklaces  of 
claws,  scarfs  of  otter  and  other  fur,  etc.,  were  in  general 
use.  The  face  and  exposed  parts  of  the  body  were 
usually  painted  and  sometimes  the  hair  also.  Women 
were  fond  of  tracing  the  part  line  with  vermilion.  There 
was  little  tattooing  and  noses  wrere  seldom  pierced. 
The  ears,  on  the  other  hand,  were  usually  perforated 
and  adorned  with  pendants  which  among  Dakota 
women  were  oftenjlong  strings  of  shells  reaching  the 
waist  line. 

Instead  of  combs,  brushes  made  from  the  tails  of 
porcupines  were  used  in  dressing  the  hair.  The  most 
common  form  was  made  by  stretching  the  porcupine 
tail  over  a  stick  of  wood.  The  hair  of  the  face  and 
others  parts  of  the  body  was  pulled  out  by  small  tweezers 

Industrial  Arts.  Under  this  head  the  reader  may 
be  reminded  that  among  most  American  tribes  each 
family  produces  and  manufactures  for  itself.  There  is 
a  more  or  less  definite  division  between  the  work  of  men 
and  women,  but  beyond  that  there  is  little  specializa 
tion.  The  individuals  are  not  of  equal  skill,  but  still  each 
practises  practically  the  whole  gamut  of  industrial  arts 
peculiar  to  his  sex.  This  fact  greatly  increases  the  im 
port  arce  of  such  arts  when  considered  as  cultural  traits. 


MATERIAL  CULTURE 


55 


Fire=making.  The  methods  of  making  fire  are 
often  of  great  cultural  interest.  So  far  as  our  data  go,  the 
method  in  this  area  was  by  the  simple  firedrill  as  shown 

in  the  Shoshoni  collections, 
Fig.  17.  Some  of  the  Wood 
land  tribes  used  the  bowdrill 
but  so  far,  this  has  not  been 
reported  for  the  Plains.  It 
may  be  well  to  note  that  to 
strike  fire  with  flint  one  must 
have  some  form  of  iron  and 
while  pyrites  was  used  by 
some  Eskimo  and  other  tribes 
of  the  far  north,  it  seems  to 
have  been  unknown  in  the 
Plains.  Naturally,  flint  and 
steel  were  among  the  first 
articles  introduced  by  white 
traders. 

Textiles  and  Skins. 
While  in  a  general  way,  it  is 
true  that  the  Plains  Indians 
used  skins  instead  of  cloth  and 
basketry,  it  cannot  be  said 
that  they  were  entirely  un 
familiar  with  the  basketry  art. 
Of  true  cloth,  we  have  no  trace. 
Blankets  woven  with  strips  of  rabbit  fur  have  been 
noted  (p.  43)  and  on  certain  Osage  war  bundles,  we 
find  covers  coarsely  woven  of  thick  strands  of  buffalo 


Fig.  17.    Firedrill.   North 
ern  Shoshoni. 


56  INDIANS  OF  THE  PLAINS 

hair;   these  are  about  the  only  traces  of  true  weaving. 
On  the  other  hand,  baskets  were  more  in  evidence.    The 
Shoshoni  and  Ute  were  rather  skilful,  making  and  using 
many  varieties  of  baskets.    The  Nez  Perce  made  a  fine 
soft  bag  like  their  western  neighbors.     The  Hidatsa, 
Mandan,  and  Arikara  made  a  peculiar  carrying  basket  of 
checker  weave,  and  are  also  credited  with  small  crude, 
coiled  baskets  used  in  gambling  games.     It  is  believed 
by  some  students  that  the  last  were  occasionally  made 
by  the  Arapaho,  Cheyenne,  Kiowa,  and  Dakota.    The 
Osage  have  some  twined  bags,  or  soft  baskets,  in  which 
ceremonial  bundles  are  kept,  but  otherwise  were  not 
given  to  basketry.     The  Omaha  formerly  wove  scarfs 
and  belts.     On  the  south,  the  Comanche  are  believed 
to  have  made  a  few  crude  baskets.    Woven  mats  were 
almost  unknown,  except    the   simple  willow  backrests 
used    by    the    Blackfoot,    Mandan,    Cheyenne,    Gros 
Ventre,  and  others.    These  are,  after  all,  but  citations 
of  exceptions  most  pronounced  among  the  marginal 
tribes,  the  fact  being  that  the  Plains  area  as  a  whole  is 
singularly  weak  in  the  textile  arts. 

Since  skins  everywhere  took  the  place  of  cloth,  the 
dressing  of  pelts  was  an  important  industry.  It  was 
not  only  woman's  work  but  her  worth  and  virtue  were 
estimated  by  her  output.  Soles  of  moccasins,  parfleche, 
and  other  similar  bags  were  made  of  stiff  rawhide,  the 
product  of  one  of  the  simplest  and  perhaps  the  most 
primitive  methods  of  treating  skins.  The  uppers  of 
moccasins,  soft  bags,  thongs,  etc.,  were  of  pliable 
texture,  produced  by  a  more  elaborate  and  laborious 
process. 


MATERIAL  CULTURE 


For  the  rawhide  finish  the  treatment  is  as  follows:— 
Shortly  after  the  removal  of  a  hide,  it  is  stretched  out 


Fig.  18.     Fleshing  a  Hide. 


Fig.  19.     Using  a  Stone  Scraper. 

on  the  ground  near  the  tipi,  hair  side  down,  and  held 
in  place  by  wooden  stakes  or  pins  such  as  are  used  in 
staking  down  the  covers  of  tipis.  Clinging  to  the 


58  INDIANS  OF  THE  PLAINS 

upturned  flesh  side  of  the  hide  are  many  fragments 
of  muscular  tissue,  fat,  and  strands  of  connective 
tissue,  variously  blackened  by  coagulated  blood.  The 
first  treatment  is  that  of  cleaning  or  fleshing.  Shortly 
after  the  staking  out,  the  surface  is  gone  over  with  a 
fleshing  tool  by  which  the  adhering  flesh,  etc.,  is  raked 
and  hacked  away.  This  is  an  unpleasant  and  laborious 
process  requiring  more  brute  strength  than  skill. 
Should  the  hide  become  too  dry  and  stiff  to  work  well, 
the  surface  is  treated  with  warm  water.  After  fleshing, 
the  hide  is  left  to  cure  and  bleach  in  the  sun  for  some 
days,  though  it  may  be  occasionally  saturated  by 
pouring  warm  water  over  its  surface.  The  next  thing 
is  to  work  the  skin  down  to  an  even  thickness  by 
scraping  with  an  adze-like  tool.  The  stakes  are  usually 
pulled  up  and  the  hard  stiff  hide  laid  down  under  a 
sun-shade  or  other  shelter.  Standing  on  the  hide, 
the  woman  leans  over  and  with  a  sidewise  movement 
removes  the  surface  in  chips  or  shavings,  the  action 
of  the  tool  resembling  that  of  a  hand  plane.  After  the 
flesh  side  has  received  this  treatment,  the  hide  is 
turned  and  the  hair  scraped  away  in  the  same  manner. 
This  completes  the  rawhide  process  and  the  subse 
quent  treatment  is  determined  by  the  use  to  be  made 
of  it, 

The  soft-tan  finish  as  given  to  buffalo  and  deer  hides 
for  robes,  soft  bags,  etc.,  is  the  same  in  its  initial  stages 
as  the  preceding.  After  fleshing  and  scraping,  the 
rawhide  is  laid  upon  the  ground  and  the  surface  rubbed 
over  with  an  oily  compound  composed  of  brains  and 


MATERIAL  CULTURE 


59 


fat  often  mixed  with  liver.  This  is  usually  rubbed  on 
with  the  hands.  Any  kind  of  fat  may  be  used  for 
this  purpose  though  the  preferred  substance  is  as 
stated  above.  The  writer  observed  several  instances 
in  which  mixtures  of  packing  house  lard,  baking  flour, 


r 


Fig.  20.     Scraping  a  Hide.     Blood. 

and  warm  water  were  rubbed  over  the  rawhide  as  a 
substitute.  The  rawhide  is  placed  in  the  sun,  after 
the  fatty  compound  has  been  thoroughly  worked  into 
the  texture  by  rubbing  with  a  smooth  stone  that  the 


60  INDIANS  OF  THE  PLAINS 

heat  may  aid  in  its  further  distribution.  When  quite 
dry,  the  hide  is  saturated  with  warm  water  and  for  a 
time  kept  rolled  up  in  a  bundle.  In  this  state,  it 
usually  shrinks  and  requires  a  great  deal  of  stretching 
to  get  it  back  to  its  approximate  former  size.  This 
is  accomplished  by  pulling  with  the  hands  and  feet, 
two  persons  being  required  to  handle  a  large  skin. 
After  this,  come  the  rubbing  and  drying  processes. 
The  surface  is  vigorously  rubbed  with  a  rough-edged 
stone  until  it  presents  a  clean-grained  appearance. 
The  skin  is  further  dried  and  whitened  by  sawing  back 
and  forth  through  a  loop  of  twisted  sinew  or  thong 
tied  to  the  under  side  of  an  inclined  tipi  pole.  This 
friction  develops  considerable  heat,  thereby  drying 
and  softening  the  texture.  As  this  and  the  preceding 
rubbing  are  parts  of  the  same  process  their  chronological 
relation  is  not  absolute,  but  the  usual  order  was  as 
given  above.  The  skin  is  then  ready  for  use. 

Skins  with  the  hair  on  are  treated  in  the  same  manner 
as  above,  except  that  the  adze-tool  is  not  applied  to  the 
hair  side.  A  large  buffalo  robe  was  no  light  object 
and  was  handled  with  some  difficulty,  especially  in  the 
stretching,  in  consequence  of  which  they  were  some 
times  split  down  the  middle  and  afterwards  sewed 
together  again. 

Among  some  of  the  Village  tribes,  it  seems  to  have 
been  customary  to  stretch  the  skin  on  a  four-sided  frame 
and  place  it  upright  as  shown  in  the  exhibit  for  the 
Thompson  Indians  (south  side  of  the  Jesup  North 
Pacific  Hall) .  The  exact  distribution  of  this  trait  is  not 


MATERIAL  CULTURE  61 

known  but  it  has  been  credited  to  the  Eastern  Dakota, 
Hidatsa,  and  Mandan.  The  Blackfoot  sometimes  used 
it  in  winter,  but  laid  flat  upon  the  ground. 

Buckskin  was  prepared  in  the  same  manner  as  among 
the  forest  tribes.  The  tribes  of  the  western  plains  'were 
especially  skilful  in  coloring  the  finished  skin  by  smok 
ing.  There  were  many  slight  variations  in  all  the 
above  processes. 


Fig.  21.     Hide  Scrapers. 

The  adze-like  scraper  was  in  general  use  throughout 
the  Plains  and  occurs  elsewhere  only  among  bordering 
tribes.  Hence,  it  is  peculiar  to  the  buffalo  hunting 
tribes.  The  handle  was  of  antler,  though  occasionally 
of  wood,  and  the  blade  of  iron.  Information  from  some 
Blackfoot  and  Dakota  Indians  indicates  that  in  former 
times  the  blades  were  of  chipped  stone,  but  the  chipped 
scraper  found  in  archaeological  collections  from  the 
Plains  area  cannot  be  fastened  to  the  handle  in  the 
same  manner  as  the  iron  blades,  the  latter  being  placed 
on  the  inner,  or  under  side,  while  the  shape  of  the 


62    <  INDIANS  OF  THE  PLAINS 

chipped  stone  blade  seems  to  indicate  that  it  was  placed 
on  the  outside.  Hence,  the  former  use  of  stone  blades 
for  these  scrapers  must  be  considered  doubtful.  The 
iron  blades  are  bound  to  the  wedge-shaped  haft,  which 
each  downward  blow^,  when  the  tool  is  in  use,  forces 
tightly  into  the  binding.  When  the  pressure  is  re 
moved  the  blade  and  binding  may  slip  off.  To  prevent 
this,  some  tools  are  provided  with  a  cord  running  from 
the  end  of  the  handle  once  or  twice  around  its  middle 
arid  thence  to  the  binding  of  the  blade.  Again  a 
curved  iron  blade  is  used,  one  end  of  which  is  bound 
near  the  middle  of  the  handle.  These  types  (Fig.  21) 
are  widely  distributed  throughout  the  Plains,  but  the 
curved  iron  blade  seems  to  be  most  frequent  among 
the  Arapaho  and  Cheyenne,  and  wooden  handles 
among  the  Comanche. 

On  the  other  hand,  fleshing  tools,  chisel-shaped  with 
notched  edges,  were  used  throughout  Canada  east  of 
the  Rocky  Mountains,  and  in  many  parts  of  the  United 
States.  Hence,  they  cannot  be  taken  as  peculiar  to 
the  Plains.  The  older  type  of  flesher  is  apparently  the 
one  made  entirely  of  bone,  while  the  later  ones  were 
made  entirely  of  iron.  Sometimes  an  intermediate 
form  is  found  in  which  a  small  metal  blade  is  fastened 
to  the  end  of  a  bone  shaft  (Fig.  22).  The  shaft  of  the 
flesher  is  usually  covered  with  rawhide  and  to  its  end 
is  attached  a  loop  for  the  wrist.  The  iron  flesher  seems 
to  be  the  only  type  peculiar  to  the  Indians  of  the  Plains. 
The  distribution  of  the  bone  flesher  is  such  that  its 
most  probable  origin  may  be  assigned  to  the  Algonkin 
tribes  of  the  Great  Lakes  and  northward. 


MATERIAL  CULTURE 


63 


The  production  of  soft  buckskin  usually  necessitates 
a  peculiar  process  called  beaming,  in  which  the  skin  is 
laid  over  the  rounded  surface  of  a  tree  section  and 
scraped  with  a  tool  suggesting  a  draw-shave.  Beaming 


Fig.  22.     Fleshing  Tools.     (The  two  short  fleshers  are  of  bone;  the 
one  on  the  left  is  of  iron ;  and  that  of  the  right,  of  bone,  with  an  iron  blade.) 

tools  are  thus  identified  with  the  dressing  of  deerskins 
and  in  this  respect  stand  distinct  from  the  adze-tool 
used  in  dressing  buffalo  skins.  They  seem  to  be  used 
wherever  the  dressing  of  deerskins  is  prevalent  and  are 


64  INDIANS  OF  THE  PLAINS 

best  known  under  the  following  types : — a,  split  leg  bones ; 

b,  combined  tibia  and  fibula  of  deer  or  similar  animal ; 

c,  rib  bone;  d,  wooden  stick  with  metal  blade  in  middle, 
stick  usually  curved. 

From  the  collections  in  this  Museum  it  seems  that 
the  split  leg  bone  type  is  not  found  in  the  Plains. 
Should  further  inquiry  show  this  to  be  the  case,  it 
would  be  a  matter  of  some  interest  since  the  split  bone 
type  is  found  in  archaeological  collections  from  British 
Columbia,  Ohio,  and  New  York,  and  is  therefore  of  great 
antiquity  as  well  as  wide  distribution.  In  any  case  the 
data  for  historic  times  indicate  that  some  form  of 
beaming  tool  is  a  concomitant  of  deerskin  dressing  from 
Alaska  and  California  (the  Hupa)  to  Labrador,  and 
Pennsylvania. 

The  rubbing  with  a  rough  stone  is  the  usual  treat 
ment  accorded  deerskins,  and  cannot  be  considered 
peculiar  to  the  Indians  of  the  Plains. 

Tailoring.  The  garments  of  the  Indians  of  the 
Plains  were  simple  in  construction,  and  the  cutting  of 
the  garment  was  characterized  by  an  effort  to  make  the 
natural  shape  of  the  tanned  skin  fit  into  the  desired 
garment,  with  as  little  waste  as  possible.  (Fig.  15.)  We 
do  not  know  how  skins  were  cut  before  the  introduction 
of  metal  knives  by  white  traders.  Needles  were  not 
used  by  the  women  among  the  Plains  Indians,  but  the 
thread  was  pushed  through  holes  made  with  bodkins 
or  awls.  In  former  times  these  awls  were  made  of 
bone;  the  sewing  was  with  sinew  thread  made  by 
shredding  out  the  long  tendons  from  the  leg  of  the 


MATERIAL  CULTURE  65 

buffalo  and  deer.  When  sewing,  Blackfoot  women 
had  at  hand  a  piece  of  dried  tendon  from  which  they 
pulled  the  shreds  with  their  teeth,  softened  them  in 
their  mouths  and  then  twisted  them  into  a  thread  by 
rolling  between  the  palms  of  their  hands.  The  moisten 
ing  of  the  sinew  in  the  mouth  not  only  enabled  the 
women  to  twist  the  thread  tightly,  but  also  caused  the 
sinew  to  expand  so  that  when  it  dried  in  the  stitch  it 
shrank  and  drew  the  stitches  tight.  The  woman's 
ordinary  sewing  outfit  was  carried  in  a  soft  bag  of 
buffalo  skin  and  consisted  of  bodkins,  a  piece  of  sinew, 
and  a  knife.  Bodkins  were  sometimes  carried  in  small 
beaded  cases  as  shown  in  the  exhibit. 

The  Use  of  Rawhide.  In  the  use  of  rawhide  for 
binding  and  hafting,  the  Plains  tribes  seem  almost 
unique.  When  making  mauls  and  stone-headed  clubs 
a  piece  of  green  or  wet  hide  is  firmly  sewed  on  and  as 
this  dries  its  natural  shrinkage  sets  the  parts  firmly. 
This  is  nicely  illustrated  in  saddles.  Thus,  rawhide 
here  takes  the  place  of  nails,  twine,  cement,  etc.,  in  other 
cultures. 

The  Part leche.  A  number  of  characteristic  bags 
were  made  of  rawhide,  the  most  conspicuous  being  the 
parfleche.  Its  simplicity  of  construction  is  inspiring  and 
its  usefulness  scarcely  to  be  over-estimated.  The  ap 
proximate  form  for  a  parfleche  is  shown  in  Fig.  23, 
and  its  completed  form  in  Fig.  24.  The  side  outlines  as 
in  Fig.  23  are  irregular  and  show  great  variations, 
none  of  which  can  be  taken  as  certainly  characteristic. 
To  fill  the  parfleche,  it  is  opened  out  as  in  Fig.  23,  and 


66 


INDIANS  OF  THE  PLAINS 


Fig.  23.     Parfleche  Pattern. 


Fig.  24.     A  Parfleche. 


MATERIAL  CULTURE  67 

the  contents  arranged  in  the  middle.  The  large  flap 
is  then  brought  over  and  held  by  lacing  a',  a".  The 
ends  are  then  turned  over  and  laced,  b',  b".  The 
closed  parfleche  may  then  be  secured  by  both  or  either 
of  the  looped  thongs  at  c',  c". 

Primarily,  parfleche  were  used  for  holding  dried  meat, 
dried  berries,  tallow,  etc.,  though  utensils  and  other  be 
longings  found  their  way  into  them  when  convenient.  In 
recent  years,  they  seem  to  have  more  of  a  decorative 
than  a  practical  value;  or  rather,  according  to  our 
impression,  they  are  cherished  as  mementos  of  buffalo 
days,  the  great  good  old  time  of  Indian  memory, 
always  appropriate  and  acceptable  as  gifts.  The  usual 
fate  of  a  gift  parfleche  is  to  be  cut  into  moccasin  soles. 
With  the  possible  exception  of  the  Osage,  the  parfleche 
was  common  among  all  these  tribes  but  seldom  en 
countered  elsewhere. 

Rawhide  Bags.  A  rectangular  bag  (Fig.  25)  was 
also  common  and  quite  uniform  even  to  the  modes  of 
binding.  They  were  used  by  women  rather  than  by 
men.  The  larger  ones  may  contain  skin-dressing  tools, 
the  smaller  ones,  sewing  or  other  small  implements, 
etc.  Sometimes,  they  were  used  in  gathering  berries 
and  other  vegetable  foods.  A  cylindrical  rawhide  case 
used  for  headdresses  and  other  ceremonial  objects  is 
characteristic  (Fig.  26).  All  these  objects  made  of 
rawhide  are  further  characterized  by  their  highly 
individualized  painted  decorations  (p.  127). 


68 


INDIANS  OF  THE  PLAINS 


Soft  Bags.  The  Dakota  made  some  picturesque 
soft  bags/  used  in  pairs,  and  called  "A  bag  for  every 
possible  thing."  The  collection  contains  many  fine 
examples  some  of  which  are  of  buffalo  hide.  All  are 
skilfully  decorated  with  ^quills  or  beads  (Fig.  27). 


Fig.  26. 


Fig.  25.     Bag  made  of  Rawhide. 
Fig.  26.    A  Case  made  of  Rawhide. 


This  type  occurs  among  the  Assiniboin,  Gros  Ventre, 
Dakota,  Crow,  Cheyenne,  Arapaho,  Ute,  and  Wind 
River  Shoshoni  in  almost  identical  forms,  but  among  the 
Nez  Perce  and  Bannock  with  decided  differences. 


MATERIAL  CULTURE 


69 


Perhaps  equally  typical  of  the  area  were  the  long 
slender  bags  for  smoking  outfits.  These  are  especially 
conspicuous  in  Dakota  collections  where  they  range 
from  80  to  150  cm.  in  length.  At  the  ends,  they  have 
rows  of  rawhide  strips  wrapped  with  quills  and  below 


Fig.  27.     Bag  decorated  with  Porcupine  Quills  and  Beads.    Dakota. 

a  fringe  of  buckskin  (Fig.  28).  The  Dakota  type  has 
been  noted  among  the  Assiniboin,  Cheyenne,  Crow, 
and  Hidatsa,  but  rarely  among  the  Ute,  Arapaho,  or 
Shoshoni.  The  Kiowa  and  Comanche  make  one,  but 


70 


INDIANS  OF  THE  PLAINS 


with  an  entirely  different  fringe.  The  Blackfoot,  North 
ern  Shoshoni,  Plains-Cree,  and  Sarsi  use  a  smaller  pouch 
of  quite  a  different  type,  also  reported  from  the  Saulteaux 


Fig.  28.     Pipe  and  Tobacco  Bags.     Dakota. 

and  Cree  of  the  Woodland  area.  These  objects  are, 
however,  so  often  presented  to  visiting  Indians  that 
collectors  find  it  difficult  to  separate  the  intrusions 
from  the  native  samples  for  any  particular  tribe. 


MATERIAL  CULTURE  71 

We  have  some  reason  for  thinking  that  the  Dakota 
type  is  quite  recent,  for  the  Teton  claim  that  formerly 
the  entire  skins  of  young  antelope,  deer,  and  even  birds 
and  beavers  were  used  as  smoking  bags.  Some  ex 
amples  of  such  bags  have  been  collected  and  are  quite 
frequent  in  the  ceremonial  outfits  of  the  Blackfoot. 
Again,  the  collections  from  many  tribes  contain  bags 
made  from  the  whole  skins  of  unborn  buffalo  and  deer, 
used  for  gathering  berries  and  storing  dried  food,  from 
which  it  is  clear  that  a  general  type  of  seamless  bag  was 
once  widely  used.  All  this  raises  the  question  as  to 
whether  the  introduction  of  metal  cutting  and  sewing 
implements  during  the  historic  period  may  not  have 
influenced  the  development  of  these  long,  rectangular 
fringed  pipe  bags. 

The  strike-a-light  pouch  often  made  of  modern 
commercial  leather  is  common  to  the  Wind  River 
Shoshoni,  Ute,  Arapaho,  Cheyenne,  Dakota,  Gros 
Ventre,  and  Assiniboin  (Fig.  29).  Among  the  Ara 
paho  and  Gros  Ventre  we  also  find  a  large  pouch  of 
similar  designs.  Again,  the  Northern  Shoshoni  and 
Blackfoot  are  not  included,  neither  are  these  pouches 
frequent  among  the  Kiowa  and  Comanche. 

Many  of  the  paint  bags  used  by  the  Blackfoot  re 
semble  their  pipe  bags  even  to  the  fringe  and  the  flaps 
at  the  mouth.  However,  many  paint  bags  in  cere 
monial  outfits  are  without  fringes  or  decorations  of 
any  kind.  Some  have  square  cut  bases  and  some 
curved;  their  lengths  range  from  8  to  15  cm.  In  some 
cases,  those  with  square  cut  bases  are  provided  with  a 


72  INDIANS  OF  THE  PLAINS 

pendant  at  each  corner.  Decorated  paint  bags  of  the 
fringed  type  occur  among  the  Gros  Ventre,  Assiniboin, 
Arapaho,  Sarsi,  Dakota,  and  Shoshoni.  A  specimen 
without  the  fringe  appears  in  the  Comanche  collection. 
The  Blackfoot,  Sarsi,  Gros  Ventre,  and  Assiniboin 
use  almost  exclusively,  bags  with  the  flaps  at  the  top, 
and  bearing  similar  decorations.  The  Arapaho  and 
Dakota  incline  to  this  type  but  also  use  those  with 
straight  tops.  Among  the  Shoshoni  decorated  paint 


Fig.  29.     Strike-a-light  Pouch.     Arapaho. 

bags  are  rare,  but  two  specimens  we  have  observed 
belong  to  these  respective  types.  So  far,  it  seems  that 
the  Arapaho  alone,  use  the  peculiar  paint  bag  with  a 
triangular  tail,  suggesting  the  ornamented  pendants  to 
the  animal  skin  medicine  bags  of  the  Algonkin  in  the 
Woodland  area.  However,  we  have  seen  a  large  bag 
of  this  pattern  attributed  to  the  Bannock. 

A  round-bottomed  pouch  with  a  decorated  field  and 
a  transverse  fringe  was  sometimes  used  for  paint  by  the 
Blackfoot.  The  decorated  part  is  on  stiff  rawhide 


MATERIAL  CULTURE 


73 


while  the  upper  is  of  soft  leather,  the  sides  and  mouth 
of  which  are  edged  by  two  and  three  rows  of  beads 
respectively.  This  seems  to  be  an  unusual  form  for 
the  Blackfoot  and  rare  in  other  collections;  while  the 
related  form,  a  large  rounded  bag,  frequently  encount 
ered  in  Dakota  and  Assiniboin  collections  has  not  been 
observed  among  the  northern  group  of  tribes.  The 
Blackfoot  collection  contains  two  small,  flat  rectangular 
cases  with  fringes.  One  of  these  was  said  to  have  been 
made  for  a  mirror,  the  other  for  matches.  However, 
such  cases  were  formerly  used  by  many  tribes  for 
carrying  the  ration  ticket  issued  by  the  government. 
Their  distribution  seems  to  have  been  general  in  the 
Plains. 

Some  tribes  used  a  long  double  saddle  bag,  highly 
decorated  and  fringed.  There  was  usually  a  slit  at 
one  side  for  the  horn  of  the  saddle.  So  far,  these  have 
been  reported  for  the  Blackfoot,  Sarsi,  Crow,  Dakota 
and  Cheyenne.  They  are  mentioned  as  common  in 
the  Missouri  area  by  Larpenteur,  who  implies  that 
the  shape  is  copied  after  those  used  by  whites.  Morice 
credits  the  Carrier  of  the  Mackenzie  culture  area  with 
similar  bags  used  on  dogs. 

It  will  be  noted  that  in  style  and  range  of  bags  and 
pouches,  the  Village  group  of  these  Indians  (p.  19)  tends 
to  stand  apart  from  the  other  groups  much  more  dis 
tinctly  than  the  intermediate  tribes  of  the  west,  for 
between  the  latter  and  the  typical  Plains  tribes,  there 
are  few  marked  differences. 


74  INDIANS  OF  THE  PLAINS 

Household  Utensils.  In  a  preceding  section,  re 
ference  was  made  to  baskets,  which  in  parts  of  the  Pla 
teau  area  on  the  west,  often  served  as  pots  for  boiling 
food.  They  were  not,  of  course,  set  upon  the  fire,  the 
water  within  being  heated  by  hot  stones.  Pottery  was 
made  by  the  Hidatsa,  Mandan,  and  Arikara,  and  probably 
by  all  the  other  tribes  of  the  Village  group.  There  is 
some  historical  evidence  that  it  was  once  made  by  the 
Blackfoot  and  there  are  traditions  of  its  use  among  the 
Gros  Ventre,  Cheyenne,  and  Assiniboin;  but,  with  the 
possible  exception  of  the  Blackfoot,  it  has  not  been 
definitely  credited  to  any  of  the  nine  typical  tribes. 

We  have  no  definite  information  as  to  how  foods  were 
boiled  among  these  non-pottery  making  tribes  before 
traders  introduced  kettles.  Many  tribes,  however, 
knew  how  to  hang  a  fresh  paunch  upon  sticks  and  boil 
in  it  with  stones  (Fig.  30).  Some  used  a  fresh  skin  in  a 
hole.  Thus  Catlin  says : — 

There  is  a  very  curious  custom  amongst  the  Assinneboins,  from 
which  they  have  taken  their  name;  a  name  given  them  by  their  neigh 
bors,  from  a  singular  mode  they  have  of  boiling  their  meat,  which  is 
done  in  the  following  manner: — when  they  kill  meat,  a  hole  is  dug  in 
the  ground  about  the  size  of  a  common  pot,  and  a  piece  of  the  raw  hide 
of  the  animal,  as  taken  from  the  back,  is  put  over  the  hole,  and  then 
pressed  down  with  the  hands  close  around  the  sides,  and  filled  with 
water.  The  meat  to  be  boiled  is  then  put  in  this  hole  or  pot  of  water; 
and  in  a  fire  which  is  built  near  by,  several  large  stones  are  heated  to  a 
red  heat,  which  are  successively  dipped  and  held  in  the  water  until 
the  meat  is  boiled;  from  which  singular  and  peculiar  custom,  the  Ojibbe- 
ways  have  given  them  the  appellation  of  Assinneboins  or  stone  boilers... 

The  Traders  have  recently  supplied  these  people  with  pots;  and 
even  long  before  that,  the  Mandans  had  instructed  them  in  the  secret 
of  manufacturing  very  good  and  serviceable  earthen  pots;  which  to 
gether  have  entirely  done  away  [with]  the  custom,  excepting  at  public 


MATERIAL  CULTURE 


75 


festivals;    where    they  seem,  like    all    others    of    the   human    family, 
to  take  pleasure  in  cherishing  and  perpetuating  their  ancient  customs. 

(p.  54.) 


Fig.  30.     Boiling  with  Hot  Stones  in  a  Paunch  supported  by  Sticks. 
Blackfoot. 

These  methods  were  known  to  the  Arapaho,  Crow, 
Dakota,  Gros  Ventre,  Blackfoot,  and  Assiniboin. 
Doubtless  they  were  generally  practised  elsewhere  in 


76  INDIANS  OF  THE  PLAINS 

the  Plains.  Since  California  and  the  whole  Pacific 
coast  northward  as  well  as  the  interior  plateaus  had 
stone-boiling  as  a  general  cultural  trait,  this  distribu 
tion  in  the  Plains  is  easily  accounted  for.  On  the  other 
hand,  the  eastern  United  States  appears  as  a  great 
pottery  area  whose  influence  reached  the  Village  tribes. 
So  excepting  the  pottery-making  Village  tribes,  the 
methods  of  cooking  in  the  Plains  area  before  traders 
introduced  kettles  seem  to  have  comprised  broiling 
over  the  fire,  baking  in  holes  in  the  ground,  and  boiling 
in  vessels  of  skin,  basketry,  or  bark.  For  the  first, 


Fig.  31.     Buffalo  Horn  Spoon. 

pieces  of  meat  were  impaled  on  a  stick  and  either  held 
over  the  fire  or  the  butt  of  the  stick  thrust  in  the  ground. 
Cooking  in  a  hole  was  universal  in  the  basin  of  the 
Columbia  River,  especially  for  edible  roots.  A  pit  was 
dug  and  a  fire  built  in  and  over  it.  When  a  great  mass  of 
embers  and  ashes  had  accumulated  they  were  scraped 
away,  the  hole  lined  with  leaves  or  bark,  the  roots  put 
in  and  covered,  after  which  the  ashes  and  embers  were 
scraped  over  all.  After  the  proper  interval  the  pit  was 
opened  and  the  food  served.  The  tribes  on  the  western 
border  of  the  Plains,  the  Blackfoot,  Shoshoni,  etc.,  also 


MATERIAL  CULTURE  77 

cooked  roots  in  this  way,  but  in  common  with  the 
typical  tribes  used  the  same  method  for  meat.  Thus  we 
see  that  neither  pottery  nor  metal  vessels  are  essential 
to  good  cooking. 

Buffalo  horn  spoons  were  used  by  all  and  whenever 
available  ladles  and  dishes  were  fashioned  from  moun 
tain  sheep  horn.  Those  of  buffalo  horn  were  used  in 
eating;  those  of  mountain  sheep  horn  usually  for 
dipping,  skimming  and  other  culinary  processes.  In 
making  these  spoons,  the  horn  was  generally  scorched 
over  a  fire  until  some  of  the  gluey  matter  tried  out,  and 
then  trimmed  to  the  desired  shape  with  a  knife.  Next 
it  was  boiled  in  water  until  soft,  when  the  bowl  was 
shaped  over  a  water-worn  stone  of  suitable  size  and  the 
handle  bent  into  the  proper  shape.  The  sizes  and  forms 
of  such  spoons  varied  a  great  deal,  but  no  important 
tribal  differences  have  been  observed.  In  traveling, 
spoons,  as  well  as  bowls,  were  usually  carried  in  bags 
of  buffalo  skin.  Among  the  Village  tribes,  wooden 
spoons  were  common,  similar  to  those  from  Woodland 
collections.  Bowls  were  fashioned  from  wood  but  were 
rare  among  the  southern  and  western  tribes.  Knots  of 
birch  and  other  hard  wood  found  occasionally  along 
rivers  were  usually  used  for  bowls.  These  were  worked 
into  shape  by  burning,  scraping  down  with  bits  of  stone, 
and  finally  polishing.  They  were  used  in  eating,  each 
person  usually  owning  one  which  he  carried  with  him 
when  invited  to  a  feast.  Occasionally,  bowls  were 
made  of  mountain  sheep  horn ;  but  such  were  the  excep 
tion,  rather  than  the  rule.  The  finest  bowls  seem  to 


78  INDIANS  OF  THE  PLAINS 

have  been  made  by  the  Dakota,  and  the  crudest  by  the 
Comanche  and  Ute. 

Tools.  It  is  believed  that  formerly  knives  were 
made  of  bone  and  stone,  but  we  have  no  very  definite 
data.  In  fact,  many  tribes  secured  knives  and  other 
trade  articles  by  barter  with  other  Indians  long  before 
they  were  visited  by  explorers;  hence,  we  have  little 
in  the  way  of  historical  data. 

Some  years  ago  a  Museum  field-worker  chanced 
upon  an  old  blind  man  smoothing  down  a  walking 
stick  with  a  stone  flake,  an  interesting  survival  of 
primitive  life.  We  can  scarcely  realize  how  quickly 
the  civilized  trader  changed  the  material  culture  of 
the  Indians.  Perrot,  one  of  the  first  French  explorers 
visiting  the  eastern  border  of  this  area,  gives  the  fol 
lowing  report  of  an  address  he  made  to  some  Fox  and 
other  Indians,  "I  see  this  fine  village  filled  with  young 
men,  who  are,  I  am  sure,  as  courageous  as  they  are 
well  built;  and  who  will,  without  doubt,  not  fear  their 
enemies  if  they  carry  French  weapons.  It  is  for  these 
young  men  that  I  leave  my  gun,  which  they  must 
regard  as  the  pledge  of  my  esteem  for  their  valor;  they 
must  use  it  if  they  are  attacked.  It  will  also  be  more 
satisfactory  in  hunting  cattle  [buffalo]  and  other  ani 
mals  than  are  all  the  arrows  that  you  use.  To  you  who 
are  old  men  I  leave  my  kettle;  I  carry  it  everywhere 
without  fear  of  breaking  it.  You  will  cook  in  it  the 
meat  that  your  young  men  bring  from  the  chase,  and 
the  food  which  you  offer  to  the  Frenchmen  who  come 
to  visit  vou.  He  tossed  a  dozen  awls  and  knives  to 


MATERIAL  CULTURE  79 

the  women,  and  said  to  them:  'Throw  aside  your 
bone  bodkins;  these  French  awls  will  be  much  easier 
to  use.  These  knives  will  be  more  useful  to  you  in 
killing  beavers  and  in  cutting  your  meat  than  are  the 
pieces  of  stone  that  you  use.'  Then,  throwing  to  them 
some  rassade  (beads):  'See;  these  will  better  adorn 
your  children  and  girls  than  do  their  usual  ornaments.' " 
(p.  330).  This  is  a  fair  sample  of  what  occurred  every 
where.  On  the  other  hand,  the  Indian  did  not  so 
readily  change  his  art,  religion,  and  social  customs. 

Perhaps  the  best  early  observer  of  primitive  tools 
was  Captain  Lewis  who  writes  of  the  Northern  Sho- 
shoni  in  the  Original  Journals  of  the  Lewis  and  Clark 
Expedition,  Vol.  3,  p.  19,  as  follows:— 

The  metal  which  we  found  in  possession  of  these  people  consisted 
of  a  few  indifferent  knives,  a  few  brass  kettles  some  arm  bands  of  iron 
and  brass,  a  few  buttons,  woarn  as  ornaments  in  their  hair,  a  spear  or 
two  of  a  foot  in  length  and  some  iron  and  brass  arrow  points  which 
they  informed  me  they  obtained  in  exchange  for  horses  from  the  Crow 
or  Rocky  Mountain  Indians  on  the  yellowstone  River,  the  bridlebits 
and  stirreps  they  obtained  from  the  Spaniards,  tho  these  were  but  few, 
many  of  them  made  use  of  flint  for  knives,  and  with  this  instrument, 
skined  the  animals  they  killed,  dressed  their  fish  and  made  their  arrows; 
this  flint  is  of  no  regular  form,  and  if  they  can  only  obtain  a  part  of  it, 
an  inch  or  two  in  length  that  will  cut  they  are  satisfyed.  they  renew 
the  edge  by  flecking  off  the  flint  by  means  of  the  point  of  an  Elk's  or 
deer's  horn,  with  the  point  of  a  deer  or  Elk's  horn  they  also  form  their 
arrow  points  of  the  flint,  with  a  quickness  and  neatness  that  is  really 
astonishing,  we  found  no  axes  nor  hatchets  among  them;  what  wood 
they  cut  was  done  either  with  stone  or  Elk's  horn,  the  latter  they  use 
always  to  rive  or  split  their  wood. 

Among  the  collections  from  the  Blackfoot  and  Gros 
Ventre,  we  find  models  of  bone  knives  made  by  old 
people  who  claimed  to  have  used  such  (Fig.  32).  There 
are  also  a  few  flakes  of  stone  said  to  have  been  so  used 
when  metal  knives  were  not  at  hand. 


80  INDIANS  OF  THE  PLAINS 

No  aboriginal  axes  have  been  preserved  but  they  are 
said  to  have  been  made  of  stone  and  bone.  The  hafted 
stone  maul  (Fig.  4)  is  everywhere  present  and  we  are 
told  that  the  ax  was  hafted  in  a  similar  manner.  Drill 
ing  was  performed  with  arrow  points  and  wood  was 
dressed  by  stone  scrapers. 

Though  we  may  be  sure  that  the  tribes  of  the  Plains 
were,  like  those  in  most  parts  of  prehistoric  America, 
living  in  a  stone  age  at  the  time  of  discovery,  it  is 
probable  that  they  made  some  use  of  copper.  The 
eastern  camps  of  the  Eastern  Dakota  were  near  the 
copper  mines  of  Lake  Superior  and  in  1661  Radisson, 


Fig.  32.     Bone  Knife. 

a  famous  explorer,  saw  copper  ornaments  while  among 
their  villages  in  Minnesota.  Prehistoric  copper  imple 
ments  are  numerous  in  Minnesota  and  Wisconsin  but 
such  objects  are  rare  within  the  Plains  area.  Yet,  all 
these  implements  were  of  pure  copper  and  therefore  too 
soft  to  displace  stone  and  bone,  the  Plains  Indian  at  all 
events  living  in  a  true  stone  age  culture. 

Digging  Stick.  From  a  primitive  point  of  view, 
the  digging  stick  is  most  interesting.  It  has  been  reported 
from  the  Blackfoot,  Gros  Ventre,  Hidatsa,  Mandan, 
and  Dakota  as  a  simple  pointed  stick,  used  chiefly 


MATERIAL  CULTURE  81 

in  digging  edible  roots  and  almost  exclusively  by  women. 
(It  is  important  to  note  the  symbolic  survival  of  this 
implement  in  the  sun  dance  bundle  of  the  Blackfoot, 
p.  117).  Some  curious  agricultural  implements  are  to 
be  found  in  the  Hidatsa  collection,  especially  hoes  made 
from  the  shoulder  blades  of  buffalo.  The  latter  have 
been  reported  from  the  Pawnee,  Arikara,  and  Mandan. 

Pi  pes.  The  Eastern  Dakota  have  long  been  famous 
for  the  manufacture  of  pipes  from  catlinite  or  red  pipe- 
stone  which  even  in  prehistoric  times  seems  to  have 
been  distributed  by  trade.  Some  pipes  in  the  Museum 
were  collected  in  1840  and  are  of  the  types  described 
by  Catlin  and  other  early  writers.  Many  of  the 
Village  tribes  used  pottery  pipes.  Among  the  Assini- 
boin,  Gros  Ventre,  and  Blackfoot,  a  black  stone  was 
used  for  a  Woodland  type  of  pipe.  In  the  Plateau  area, 
the  pipes  were  smaller  than  elsewhere  and  usually 
made  from  steatite.  The  Hidatsa  and  Mandan  used 
a  curiously  shaped  pipe,  as  may  be  seen  from  the 
collection.  It  is  much  like  the  Arapaho  sacred  tribal 
flat  pipe.  Occasionally,  a  straight  tubular  pipe  was 
used.  Among  the  Cheyenne  in  particular,  this  was  a 
bone  reinforced  with  sinew.  Also,  it  seems  to  have 
been  generally  known  to  the  Kiowa  and  Arapaho. 
Among  the  Blackfoot  and  Dakota,  it  is  usually  a  simple 
stone  tube  with  a  stem.  This  form  is  everywhere 
exceptional  and  usually  ceremonial. 

The  large  medicine-pipe,  or  ceremonial,  of  the  Black- 
foot  Indians,  conspicuously  displayed  in  the  hall  is 
scarcely  to  be  considered  under  this  head  (see  p.  Ill), 


82  INDIANS  OF  THE  PLAINS 

as  also  the  curious  pipe-like  wands  of  the  Dakota,  the 
Omaha  (Demuth  collection),  and  Pawnee. 

Tobacco  was  raised  (p.  30)  by  a  few  tribes.  This 
was  mixed  with  the  dried  bark  of  the  red  willow,  the 
leaves  of  the  bear  berry  or  with  larb.  Some  wild 
species  of  Nicotiana  were  gathered  by  the  Plateau  tribes. 
In  literature,  the  term  kinnikinnick  (Algonkian  Ojibway, 
meaning  "what  is  mixed")  is  applied  to  this  mixture, 
From  the  very  first,  traders  introduced  commercial 
forms  of  tobacco  which  have  been  in  general  use  ever 
since. 

Weapons.  Reference  has  been  made  to  bows,  clubs, 
and  lances  (p.  26)  for  killing  buffalo;  hence,  it  is  only 
necessary  to  add  that  they  were  also  the  chief  weapons 
in  war.  Among  nearly  all  the  tribes  a  circular  shield 
of  buffalo  hide  was  used,  though  with  so  many  ceremo 
nial  associations,  that  it  is  not  clear  whether  the  Indian 
prized  it  most  for  its  charm  value  or  for  its  mechanical 
properties,  since  in  most  cases  he  seems  to  have  placed 
his  faith  in  the  powers  symbolized  in  the  devices  painted 
thereon.  No  armor  seems  to  have  been  used.  The 
typical  Plains  Indian  rode  into  battle,  stripped  to 
breechcloth  and  moccasins,  with  whatever  symbolic 
headgear,  charms,  and  insignia  he  was  entitled  to. 
However,  the  Blackfoot  have  traditions  of  having 
protected  themselves  from  arrows  by  several  skin 
shirts,  one  over  the  other,  while  among  the  Northern 
Shoshoni,  both  men  and  horses  were  protected  by 
"many  folds  of  dressed  antelope  skin  united  with  glue 
and  sand."  The  Pawnee  have  also  been  credited  with 


MATERIAL  CULTURE  83 

hardened  skin  coats.  Since  armor  and  helmets  were 
used  in  some  parts  of  the  North  Pacific  Coast  area 
and  in  parts  of  the  Plateaus,  it  is  natural  to  encounter 


Fig.  33.    A  Buffalo  Hide  Shield  from  the  Northern  Blackfoot, 

armor  on  the  northwestern  margin  of  the  Plains. 
Poisoned  arrows  have  been  credited  to  the  Plateau 
tribes  and  a  few  of  those  in  the  western  Plains. 


84  INDIANS  OF  THE  PLAINS 

Games.  Amusements  and  gambling  are  represented 
in  collections  by  many  curious  devices.  Adults  rarely 
played  for  amusement,  leaving  such  pastime  to  children; 
they  themselves  played  for  stakes.  Most  American 
games  are  more  widely  distributed  than  many  other 
cultural  traits;  but  a  few  seem  almost  entirely  peculiar 
to  the  Plains. 

A  game  in  which  a  forked  anchor-like  stick  is  thrown 
at  a  rolling  ring  was  known  to  the  Dakota,  Omaha, 
and  Pawnee.  So  far,  it  has  not  been  reported  from 
other  tribes. 

Another  game  of  limited  distribution  is  the  large 
hoop  with  a  double  pole,  the  two  players  endeavoring 
to  place  the  poles  so  that  when  the  hoop  falls,  it  will 
make  a  count  according  to  which  of  the  four  marks  in 
the  circumference  are  nearest  a  pole.  This  has  been 
reported  for  the  Arapaho,  Dakota,  and  Omaha.  Among 
the  Dakota,  this  game  seems  to  have  been  associated 
with  magical  ceremonies  for  " calling  the  buffalo'7 
and  also  played  a  part  in  the  ghost  dance  (p.  120)  move 
ment.  The  Arapaho  have  also  a  sacred  hoop  game 
associated  with  the  sun  dance.  Other  forms  of  this 
game  in  which  a  single  pole  is  used  have  been  reported 
from  almost  every  tribe  in  the  Plains.  It  occurs  also 
outside  this  area.  Yet,  in  the  Plains  it  takes  special 
forms  in  different  localities.  Thus  the  Blackfoot  and 
their  neighbors  used  a  very  small  spoked  ring  with  an 
arrow  for  the  pole,  the  Mandan  used  a  small  plain 
ring  but  with  a  very  long  pole,  while  the  Comanche 
used  a  large  life-preserver  like  hoop  with  a  sectioned 
club  for  a  pole. 


MATERIAL  CULTURE  85 

The  netted  hoop  at  which  darts  were  thrown  is 
almost  universal  in  the  Plains,  but  occurs  elsewhere  as 
well.  Other  popular  games  were  stick  dice  and  the 
hand  game  (hiding  the  button).  Among  the  Blackfoot 
and  their  neighbors,  the  hand  game  was  a  favorite 
gambling  device  and  handled  by  team  work:  i.  e.,  one 
large  group  played  against  another. 

By  a  comparative  study  of  games,  it  would  be  pos 
sible  to  divide  the  tribes  of  the  Plains  into  a  number  of 
geographical  subgroups.  On  the  other  hand,  it  is  clear 
that  taken  as  a  whole,  these  tribes  have  sufficient 
similarities  in  games  to  justify  grouping  them  in  a 
distinct  culture  area. 

We  have  now  passed  in  review  the  main  character 
istics  of  material  culture  among  the  Plains  tribes. 
There  are  many  other  important  details  having  func 
tional  and  comparative  significance  for  whose  consid 
eration  the  reader  must  be  referred  to  the  special 
literature.  We  have  seen  how  the  typical,  or  central, 
group  of  tribes  (Blackfoot,  Gros  Ventre,  Assiniboin, 
Crow,  Teton-Dakota,  Cheyenne,  Arapaho,  Kiowa, 
and  Comanche)  seems  to  have  few  traits  in  common 
with  adjoining  culture  areas,  while  the  border  tribes 
manifest  a  mixture  of  the  traits  emphasized  among 
the  typical  group  and  those  most  characteristic  of 
other  culture  areas.  For  example,  the  typical  material 
culture  of  the  Plains  is  peculiar  in  the  absence  of  pot 
tery,  the  textile  arts,  agriculture,  and  the  use  of  wild 
grains  and  seeds,  all  of  which  appear  to  varying  degrees 
in  one  or  the  other  of  the  marginal  groups. 


86  INDIANS  OF  THE  PLAINS 

In  general,  it  appears  that  in  the  Plains,  traits  of 
material  culture  fall  within  geographical  rather  than 
linguistical  and  political  boundaries.  While  all  cultural 
traits  seem  to  show  the  same  tendency,  this  is  most 
pronounced  in  material  culture.  Thus,  from  the  point 
of  view  of  this  chapter  the  Plains-Cree  may  merit  a 
place  in  the  typical  group,  but  in  some  other  respects 
hold  an  intermediate  position.  All  the  other  tribes  with 
out  exception  manifest  some  important  traits  of  material 
culture  found  in  other  areas. 

In  part  the  causes  for  the  observed  greater  uniformity 
in  material  culture  seem  to  lie  in  the  geographical 
environment,  since  food,  industries,  and  some  house 
hold  arts  are  certain  to  be  influenced  by  the  character 
of  the  materials  available.  This,  however,  cannot  be  the 
whole  story,  for  pottery  clay  is  everywhere  within  easy 
reach,  yet  the  typical  tribes  were  not  potters.  They 
also  wanted  not  the  opportunities  to  learn  the  art  from 
neighboring  tribes.  It  seems  more  probable  that  cer 
tain  dominant  factors  in  their  lives  exercised  a  selec 
tive  influence  over  the  many  cultural  traits  offered  at 
home  and  abroad,  thus  producing  a  culture  well  adapted 
to  the  place  and  to  the  time. 


CHAPTER  II. 
SOCIAL  ORGANIZATION. 

MUSEUM  collections  cannot  illustrate  this  im 
portant  phase  of  culture;  but  since  no  compre 
hensive  view  of  the  subject  can  be  had  without 
its  consideration,  we  must  give  it  some  space.  It  is 
customary  to  treat  of  all  habits  or  customs  having  to  do 
with  the  family  organization,  the  community,  and  what 
we  call  the  state,  under  the  head  of  social  organization. 
So,  in  order  that  the  reader  may  form  some  general  idea 
of  social  conditions  in  this  area,  we  shall  review  some  of 
the  discussed  points.  Unfortunately,  the  data  for  many 
tribes  are  meager  so  that  a  complete  review  cannot  be 
made.  The  Blackfoot,  Sarsi,  Crow,  Northern  Shoshoni, 
Nez  Perce,  Assiniboin,  Teton-Dakota,  Omaha,  Hidat- 
sa,  Arapaho,  Cheyenne,  and  Kiowa  have  been  carefully 
investigated,  but  of  the  remaining  tribes,  we  know  very 
little. 

As  previously  stated,  it  is  customary  to  accept  the 
political  units  of  the  Indian  as  tribes  or  independent 
nations.  Thus,  while  the  Crow  recognize  several 
subdivisions,  they  feel  that  they  are  one  people  and 
support  a  council  or  governing  body  for  the  whole.  The 
Blackfoot,  on  the  other  hand,  are  composed  of  three 
distinct  political  divisions,  the  Piegan,  Blood,  and 
Blackfoot,  with  no  superior  government,  yet  they  feel 
that  they  are  one  people  with  common  interests  and 


87 


88  INDIANS  OF  THE  PLAINS 

since  they  have  a  common  speech  and  precisely  similar 
cultures,  it  is  customary  to  ignore  the  political  units 
and  designate  them  by  the  larger  term.    The  Hidatsa, 
one  of  the  Village  group,   have  essentially  the  same 
language  as  the  Crow,  but  have  many  different  traits  of 
culture  and  while  conscious  of  a  relationship,  do  not 
recognize    any    political    sympathies.      Again,    in    the 
Dakota,  we  have  a  more  complicated  scheme.     They 
recognize    first    seven    divisions    as    "  council    fires" 
Mdewakanton,  Wahpeton,  Wahpekute,  Sisseton,  Yank- 
ton,  Yanktonai,  and  Teton.     These,  as  indicated  by 
separate   fires,   were  politically  independent,   but   did 
not  make  war  upon  each  other.     To  the  whole,  they 
gave  the  name  Dakota,  or,  "those  who  are  our  friends. " 
Again,  they  grouped  the  first  four  into  a  larger  whole, 
the  Eastern  Dakota  (Isayanti),  the  Yankton  and  Yank 
tonai  formed  a  second  group,  and  the  Teton  a  third. 
However,  the  culture  of  the  second  and  third  groups  is 
so  similar  that  it  is  quite  admissible  to  include  them 
under  the  title  Teton-Dakota.     All  the  seven  divisions 
were  again  subdivided,  especially  the  Teton,  which  had 
at  least  eight  large  practically  independent  divisions. 

Thus,  it  is  clear,  that  no  hard  and  fast  distinctions 
can  be  made  between  independent  and  dependent  political 
units,  for  in  some  cases  the  people  feel  as  if  one  and 
yet  support  what  seem  to  be  separate  governments. 
This  is  not  by  any  means  peculiar  to  the  Plains.  Since 
anthropology,  is,  after  all,  chiefly  a  study  of  culture, 
it  is  usual  to  place  under  one  head  all  units  having 
exactly  the  same  culture  when  otherwise  closelv  related 


SOCIAL  ORGANIZATION  89 

by  language  and  blood.  Our  previous  list  of  tribes, 
therefore,  embraces  groups,  all  subdivisions  of  which 
have  approximately  equal  cultural  values  for  the  whole 
series  of  traits  (p.  19). 

Using  the  term,  tribe,  to  designate  units  with  in 
dependent  governing  bodies,  we  find  that  these  tribes  are 
in  turn  composed  of  small  units,  each  under  the  leader 
ship  of  a  chief,  seconded  by  a  few  head  men.  These  sub 
divisions  are  often  designated  in  technical  literature  as 
bands — a  chief  and  his  followers.  It  frequently  happens 
that  the  members  of  these  bands  inherit  their  member 
ships  according  to  a  fixed  system.  When  this  is  reckoned 
through  the  mother,  or  in  the  female  line,  the  term  clan 
is  used  instead  of  band;  when  reckoned  in  the  male 
line,  gens.  The  clans  and  gentes  of  the  Plains  are  of 
special  interest  because  of  the  tendency  to  regulate 
marriage  so  that  it  must  be  exogamic,  or  between 
individuals  from  different  clans  and  gentes,  and  also 
because  of  the  difficulty  in  discovering  whether  this  is 
due  to  the  mere  accident  of  blood  relationship  or  some 
other  obscure  tendency.  On  this  point,  there  is  a  large 
body  of  special  literature. 

An  exogamic  gentile  system  has  been  reported  for 
the  Omaha,  Ponca,  Iowa,  Oto,  Missouri,  Osage,  and 
Kansas.  An  exogamic  clan  system  prevails  among  the 
Hidatsa,  Crow,  and  the  Mandan.  Among  the  Plateau 
group,  the  Arapaho,  Kiowa,  Comanche,  and  probably 
also  among  the  Dakota  and  Plains-Cree  we  have  only 
bands  without  marriage  restrictions.  In  addition,  we 
have  some  problematical  cases  in  the  Blackfoot,  Gros 


90 


INDIANS  OF  THE  PLAINS 


Ventre,  Assiniboin,  and  perhaps  others,  where  there 
seems  to  be  a  tendency  toward  a  gentile  exogamous 
system,  but  our  data  are  not  sufficiently  full  to  determine 
whether  these  are  intermediate  or  true  transitional  types. 


Fig.  34.    The  Cheyenne  Camp  Circle.    (Dorsey). 

The  Camp  Circle.  Among  the  typical  tribes  and 
even  in  most  places  where  tipis  were  used,  we  find  an 
organized  camp,  or  circle.  In  its  pure  form,  this  is  a  tribal 


SOCIAL  ORGANIZATION  91 

scheme  by  which  each  "band"  has  a  fixed  place  or  order, 
generally  enumerated  sunwise,  from  the  opening  of  the 
circle  in  the  easternmost  segment  (Fig.  34) .  When  form 
ing  a  camp,  the  leaders  selected  the  site  and  marked  off 
the  two  sides  of  the  opening,  or  gap,  whence  the  respec 
tive  bands  fell-in,  in  proper  order  and  direction,  to  form 
the  circle.  At  the  center  was  a  council  tent,  where  the 
governing  body  met  and  at  symmetrical  points  were  the 
tipis  of  the  "  soldiers,"  or  police.  While  the  camp  circle 
was  the  most  striking  and  picturesque  trait  of  Plains 
culture,  it  was  probably  no  more  than  a  convenient 
form  of  organized  camp  for  a  political  group  composed 
of  " bands."  It  is  likely  that  some  of  the  typical  tribes 
developed  it  first,  whence,  because  of  its  practical 
value,  it  was  adopted  by  the  others  and  even  some  of 
the  Village  and  Plateau  tribes  when  they  used  tipis. 
It  is,  however,  peculiar  to  the  Plains. 

Marriage.  There  seems  to  be  nothing  distinctive  in 
the  marriage  customs  of  the  Plains,  even  in  the  matter  of 
exogamy  (p.  89).  A  man  was  permitted  to  marry  as 
many  women  as  he  desired,  yet  relatively  few  men  had 
more  than  three  wives.  Everywhere  the  rule  was  to 
marry  sisters,  if  possible,  since  it  is  said  they  were  less 
likely  to  quarrel  amongst  themselves.  As  no  slaves  were 
kept  and  servants  were  unknown,  the  aristocractic 
family  could  only  meet  the  situation  by  increasing 
the  number  of  wives.  Further,  it  was  usual  to  regard 
the  first  wife  as  the  head  of  the  family,  the  others  as 
subordinate. 


92  INDIANS  OF  THE  PLAINS 

The  care  and  rearing  of  children  is  a  universal  phase 
of  human  life.  Among  the  collections  will  be  found 
cradles,  or  carriers,  for  the  protection  of  the  newly 
born,  often  highly  ornamented.  Dolls  and  minia 
ture  objects  such  as  travois,  saddles,  and  bags,  were 
common  as  toys  and  often  find  their  way  into  museums. 
A  curious  custom,  not  confined  to  the  Plains,  was  to 
preserve  the  navel  cord  in  a  small  ornamented  pouch, 
hung  to  the  cradle  or  about  the  neck  of  the  child. 
Among  the  Dakota,  these  usually  took  the  forms  of 
turtles  and  lizards,  among  the  Blackfoot,  snakes 
and  horned-toads,  etc.  Examples  are  shown  in  the 
various  collections. 

Naming  children  is  everywhere  an  important  matter. 
Usually  an  old  person  is  called  in  to  do  this  and  selects 
a  single  name.  When  a  boy  reaches  adolescence,  a  new 
name  is  often  given  and  again,  if  as  an  adult,  he  per 
forms  some  meritorious  deed.  Girls  seldom  change 
their  names,  not  even  at  marriage.  Among  many 
tribes  there  are  special  ceremonies  for  girls  when 
adolescence  sets  in. 

When  an  Indian  is  ill  a  doctor  is  called  in.  He  is 
supposed  to  have  received  power  from  some  supernatu 
ral  source  and  sings  songs  and  prays  at  the  bedside. 
Sometimes  vegetable  substances  are  given  as  medicine, 
but  these  are  usually  harmless,  the  faith  being  placed 
entirely  in  the  religious  formula. 

At  death  the  body  was  dressed  and  painted,  then 
wrapped  in  a  robe  and  placed  upon  a  scaffold,  in  a  tree, 
or  upon  a  hill.  None  of  the  Plains  tribes  seem  to  have 


SOCIAL  ORGANIZATION  93 

practised  cremation  and  but  a  few  of  them  placed 
the  bodies  underground.  In  fact,  the  Government 
authorities  experienced  great  difficulty  in  inducing  the 
modern  Indians  to  inter  their  dead,  as  it  is  against  their 
old  belief,  in  that  it  would  interfere  with  the  passage  of 
the  spirit  to  the  other  world. 

Government.  The  political  organization  wras 
rather  loose  and  in  general  quite  democratic .  Each  band , 
gens,  or  clan  informally  recognized  an  indefinite  number  of 
men  as  head  men,  one  or  more  of  whom  were  formally 
vested  with  representative  powers  in  the  tribal  council. 
Among  the  Dakota,  there  was  a  kind  of  society  of  older 
men,  self-electing,  who  legislated  on  all  important 
matters.  They  appointed  four  of  their  number  to 
exercise  the  executive  functions.  The  Omaha  had  a 
somewhat  similar  system.  The  Cheyenne  had  four 
chiefs  of  equal  rank  and  a  popularly  elected  council 
of  forty  members.  Among  the  Blackfoot  we  seem  to 
have  a  much  less  .systematic  arrangement,  the  leading 
men  of  each  band  forming  a  general  council  which 
in  turn  recognized  one  individual  as  chief.  Of  the  west 
ern  tribes  the  Northern  Shoshoni,  at  least,  had  even  a 
less  formal  system. 

Though  there  were  in  the  Plains  some  groups  spoken 
of  as  confederacies  by  pioneers;  viz.,  the  Blackfoot, 
Sarsi,  and  Gros  Ventre;  the  seven  Dakota  tribes;  the 
Pawnee  group;  the  Arapaho,  Cheyenne,  Kiowa,  and 
Comanche,  none  of  these  seem  to  have  been  more 
than  alliances.  At  least,  there  was  nothing  like  the 
celebrated  League  of  the  Iroquois  in  the  Woodland 
area. 


INDIANS  OF  THE  PLAINS 


Soldier  Bands  or  Societies.  We  have  previously 
mentioned  the  camp  police.  The  Dakota  governing 
society,  for  example,  appointed  eight  or  more  men  as 
soldiers  or  marshals  to  enforce  their  regulations  at  all 
times.  There  were  also  a  number  of  men's  societies  or 
fraternities  of  a  military  and  ceremonial  character  upon 
one  or  more  of  which  the  tribal  government  might  also 
call  for  such  service.  As  these  societies  had  an  organiza 
tion  of  their  own,  it  was  only  necessary  to  deal  with  their 
leaders.  The  call  to  service  was  for  specific  occasions  and 
the  particular  society  selected  automatically  ceased  to 
act  when  tne  occasion  passed.  The  Blackfoot,  Gros 
Ventre,  Assiniboin,  Cheyenne,  Arapaho,  Crow,  Hidatsa, 
Mandan,  Arikara,  and  Pawnee,  also  had  each  a  number 
of  societies  upon  whom  the  governing  body  called  for 
police  service.  In  addition  to  these  specific  parallels,  we 
find  that  all  tribes  using  the  camp  circle,  or  organized 
camp,  when  hunting  buffalo,  also  appointed  police  who 
executed  orders  in  a  similar  manner.  Among  the  tribes 
having  soldier  societies  we  again  find  certain  marked 
similarities  in  the  current  names  for  these  organizations 
as  shown  in  the  following  partial  list,  compiled  by  Dr. 
R.  H.  Lowie:— 


Mandan         Hidaisa 
Kit-foxes 

Ravens  Ravens 

Half-Shorn       Half-Shorn 

Heads  Heads 

Foolish  Dogs    Crazy  Dogs 


Arikara 
Foxes 


Crows 


Black foot 
Kit-foxes 
Mosquitoes 
Ravens 


Dogs  (?) 
Old  Dogs 

Soldiers 
Buffaloes 


Small  Dogs 
Dogs 

Enemies 
Bulls 


Mad  Dogs      Crazy  Dogs 

Young  Dogs 

Big  Young       Dogs 

Dogs  (?) 

Soldiers          j  Braves  (?) 
1  Soldiers(?) 
Mad  Bulls       Bulls 


Arapaho 
Kit-foxes 


Crazy 

Lodge 

Dogs 


Gros  Ventre 
Kit-foxes 
Flies 


Crazy 
Lodge 

Dogs 


SOCIAL  ORGANIZATION 


95 


Fig.  35.    A  Dog  Dancer.    Hidatsa.     (After  Maximilian.) 


96  INDIANS  OF  THE  PLAINS 

It  will  be  noted  that  a  mad  or  foolish  society  is  found 
in  each  of  the  six  tribes  as  is  also  a  dog  society,  while 
the  kit-fox  and  the  raven  are  common  to  a  number. 
Investigations  of  these  organizations  have  shown  that 
though  those  bearing  similar  names  are  not  exact  dupli 
cates,  they  nevertheless  have  many  fundamental  ele 
ments  in  common. 

The  most  probable  explanation  of  this  correspon 
dence  in  name  and  element  is  that  each  distinct  society 
had  a  common  origin,  or  that  the  bulls,  for  example, 
were  created  by  one  tribe  and  then  passed  on  to  others. 
This  is  an  important  point  because  among  anthropolo 
gists  there  are  two  extreme  theories  to  account  for 
similarities  in  culture,  one  that  all  like  cultural  traits, 
wherever  found,  had  a  common  origin,  the  other  that 
all  were  invented  or  derived  independently  by  the 
tribes  practising  them.  The  former  is  often  spoken 
of  as  the  diffusion  of  cultural  traits,  the  latter  as  inde 
pendent  development.  It  is  generally  agreed,  how 
ever,  that  most  cultures  contain  traits  acquired  by 
diffusion  (or  borrowing)  as  well  as  some  entirely  original 
to  themselves,  the  whole  forming  a  complex  very 
difficult  to  analyze.  Returning  to  these  Plains  Indian 
societies  we  find  among  several  tribes  (Blackfoot, 
Gros  Ventre,  Arapaho,  Mandan,  and  Hidatsa)  an 
additional  feature  in  that  the  societies  enumerated  in 
our  table  are  arranged  in  series  so  that  ordinarily  a  man 
passes  from  one  to  the  other  in  order,  like  school  children 
in  their  grades,  thus  automatically  grouping  the  mem 
bers  according  to  age.  For  this  variety,  the  term  age- 


i 


98  INDIANS  OF  THE  PLAINS 

society  has  been  used  by  Dr.  Kroeber.  Thus,  it  appears 
that  while  in  certain  general  features,  the  soldier 
band  system  of  police  is  found  among  all  tribes  in 
the  area,  there  are  many  other  interesting  differences 
distributed  to  varying  extents.  For  example,  the  age 
grouping  is  common  to  but  five  tribes,  while  among  the 
Arapaho  it  takes  a  special  form,  the  age  grouping  being 


¥ig.   37.      Headdress  of  Buffalo  Skin.       Arapaho   Women's  Society. 

combined  with  appropriate  ceremonial,  or  dancing 
functions,  including  practically  all  the  adult  males  in 
the  tribes.  An  unusually  complete  set  of  the  regalia 
of  the  Arapaho  series  is  exhibited  in  the  Museum  and 
from  the  Gros  Ventre,  a  related  tribe,  is  shown  the 
only  known  specimen  of  the  peculiar  shirt  worn  by  a 
highest  degree  dog  society  member.  Other  regalia  are 
exhibited  for  the  Blackfoot,  Crow,  and  Hidatsa. 


SOCIAL  ORGANIZATION  99 

Among  the  Blackfoot,  Arapaho,  Hidatsa,  Mandan, 
and  Gros  Ventre,  we  find  one  or  more  women's  societies 
not  in  any  way  performing  police  functions,  but  still 
regarded  as  somehow  correlated  with  the  series  for 
men.  Among  the  Blackfoot  and  Arapaho,  the  one 
women's  society  is  based  upon  mythical  conceptions 
of  the  buffalo  as  is  illustrated  by  their  regalia  (Fig.  37). 
Among  the  Mandan,  where  there  were  several  women's 
societies,  we  may  note  a  buffalo  organization  whose 
ceremonies  were  believed  to  charm  the  buffalo  near 
when  game  was  scarce  and  the  tribe  threatened  with 
starvation.  Some  of  their  regalia  will  be  found  in  the 
Museum. 

These  societies  for  both  men  and  women  in  their 
fundamental  and  widely  distributed  features,  must  be 
set  down  with  the  camp  circle  as  one  of  the  most 
characteristic  social  traits  of  the  Plains., 

A  careful  study  of  the  age-societies  and  a  comparison 
of  their  essential  features  with  the  societies  of  other 
Plains  tribes,  indicates  that  they  originated  in  the  Plains 
and  were  probably  the  original  invention  of  the  Mandan 
and  Hidatsa.  At  least,  we  can  be  sure  that  these  Village 
tribes  were  the  center  of  distribution  for  Plains  societies 
as  a  whole. 

Social  Distinction.  There  being  no  such  thing  as 
individual  ownership  of  land,  property  consisted  of 
horses,  food,  utensils,  etc.  These  were  possessed  in  vary 
ing  degrees  by  the  individual  members  of  a  tribe,  but  in 
no  case  was  the  amount  of  such  property  given  much 
weight  in  the  determination  of  social  position.  Anyone 


Fig.  38.  A  Blackfoot  War  Record.  Beginning  at  the  top,  we  have 
Bear-chief  (a)  on  foot  surprised  by  Assiniboin  Indians  but  he  escaped; 
(b)  Double-runner  cut  loose  four  horses;  (c)  Double-runner  captures 
a  Gros  Ventre  boy;  (d)  Double-runner  and  a  companion  encounter 
and  kill  two  Gros  Ventre,  he  taking  a  lance  from  one;  (e)  even  while 
a  boy  Double-runner  picked  up  a  war-bonnet  dropped  by  a  fleeing 
Gros  Ventre  which  in  the  system  counts  as  a  deed;  (f)  as  a  man  he  has 
two  adventures  with  Crow  Indians,  taking  a  gun  from  one;  (g)  he,  as 
leader,  met  five  Flathead  in  a  pit  and  killed  them;  (hj  a  Cree  took 
shelter  in  some  cherry  brush  in  a  hole,  but  Big-nose  went  in  for  him; 
(i)  not  completely  shown,  but  representing  a  Cree  Indian  killed  while 
running  off  Piegan  horses;  (j)  Double-runner,  carrying  a  medicine-pipe, 
took  a  bow  from  a  Gros  Ventre  and  then  killed  him ;  (k)  Double-runner 
took  a  shield  and  a  horse  from  a  Crow  tipi,  a  dog  barked  and  he  was 
hotly  pursued;  (m)  he  killed  two  Gros  Ventre  and  took  two  guns; 
(n)  he  captured  a  Gros  Ventre  woman  and  a  boy;  (o)  he  took  four 
mules. 

100 


SOCIAL  ORSA! 

in  need  of  food,  horses,  or  anything  whatsoever,  was 
certain  to  receive  some  material  •  assistance  from  those 
who  had  an  abundance.  Among  most  tribes,  the  lavish 
giving  away  of  property  was  a  sure  road  to  social  distinc 
tion.  Yet,  the  real  aristocrats  seem  to  have  been  those 
with  great  and  good  deeds  to  their  credit.  The  Dakota, 
Blackfoot,  Cheyenne,  and  no  doubt  others,  had  a  more 
or  less  definite  system  for  the  grading  of  war  deeds, 
among  the  highest  being  the  "coup,"  or  the  touching 
of  an  enemy.  Curiously  enough,  this  touching  as  well 
as  capturing  a  gun  was  regarded  by  the  Blackfoot, 
at  least,  as  deserving  of  greater  rank  than  the  mere 
taking  of  an  enemy's  life.  The  Teton-Dakota,  on  the 
other  hand,  while  recognizing  the  high  value  of  the 
coup,  also  put  great  stress  on  the  taking  of  a  scalp. 
Running  off,  or  stealing  the  horses  of  another  tribe, 
was  also  a  worthy  feat  among  all  these  Indians.  Among 
most  tribes,  it  was  customary  at  feasts  and  other 
gatherings  for  men  to  come  forward  and  formally 
"count"  or  announce  their  deeds  and  often  the  quali 
fications  for  various  posts  of  honor  and  service  were 
%the  possession  of  at  least  four  coups. 

The  social  importance  of  such  deeds  naturally  de 
veloped  a  kind  of  heraldry  of  which  the  picture  writing 
of  the  Plains  tribes  is  an  example.  It  was  usual  to 
record  one's  deeds  on  his  buffalo  robe,  or  on  the  sides 
of  a  tipi  (Fig.  38).  The  Dakota  had  special  rules  for 
wearing  eagle  feathers  in  the  hair,  by  which  one  could 
tell  at  a  glance  what  deeds  the  wearer  had  performed. 
The  Mandan,  Assiniboin,  and  perhaps  others,  had 


102  -  !,  JNTJI^NS  OF  THE  PLAINS 

similar  systems.  The  Dakota  carried  the  idea  over 
into  the  decorations  for  horses  and  clothing.  Even  the 
designs  upon  their  moccasins  were  sometimes  made  to 
emblazon  the  deeds  of  the  wearer. 


CHAPTER  III. 
RELIGION  AND  CEREMONIES. 

THE  sacred  beliefs  of  these  Indians  are  largely 
formulated  and  expressed  in  sayings  and  narra 
tives  having  some  resemblance  to  the  legends 
of  European  peoples.  There  are  available  large  collec 
tions  of  these  tales  and  myths  from  the  Blackfoot,  Crow, 
Nez  Perce,  Assiniboin,  Gros  Ventre,  Arapaho,  Arikara, 
Pawnee,  Omaha,  Northern  Shoshoni,  and  less  complete 
series  from  the  Dakota,  Cheyenne,  and  Ute.  In  these 
will  be  found  much  curious  and  interesting  information. 
Each  tribe  in  this  area  has  its  own  individual  beliefs 
and  sacred  myths,  yet  many  have  much  in  common, 
the  distribution  of  the  various  incidents  therein  forming 
one  of  the  important  problems  in  anthropology. 

Mythology.  A  deluge  myth  is  almost  universal 
in  the  Plains  and  very  widely  distributed  in  the  wooded 
areas  as  well.  Almost  everywhere  it  takes  the  form  of 
having  the  submerged  earth  restored  by  a  more  or  less 
human  being  who  sends  down  a  diving  bird  or  animal  to 
obtain  a  little  mud  or  sand.  Of  other  tales  found  both 
within  and  without  the  Plains  area  we  may  mention,  the 
" Twin-heroes,"  the  ''Woman  who  married  a  star  and 
bore  a  Hero,"  and  the  "  Woman  who  married  a  Dog." 
Working  out  the  distribution  of  such  myths  is  one  of 
the  fascinating  tasks  of  the  folklorist  and  will  some 
time  give  us  a  clearer  insight  into  the  prehistoric  cul- 

103 


104  INDIANS  OF  THE  PLAINS 

tural  contacts  of  the  several  tribes.  A  typical  study 
of  this  kind  by  Dr.  R.  H.  Lowie  will  be  found  in  the 
Journal  of  American  Folk-Lore,  September,  1908, 
where,  for  example,  the  star-born  hero  is  traced  through 
the  Crow,  Pawnee,  Dakota,  Arapaho,  Kiowa,  Gros 
Ventre,  and  Blackfoot.  Indian  mythologies  often 
contain  large  groups  of  tales  each  reciting  the  adven 
tures  of  a  distinguished  mythical  hero.  In  the  Plains, 
as  elsewhere,  we  find  among  these  a  peculiar  character 
with  supernatural  attributes,  who  transforms  and  in 
some  instances  creates  the  world,  who  rights  great 
wrongs,  and  corrects  great  evils,  yet  who  often  stoops 
to  trivial  and  vulgar  pranks.  Among  the  Blackfoot, 
for  instance,  he  appears  under  the  name  of  Napiwa', 
white  old  man,  or  old  man  of  the  dawn.  He  is  dis 
tinctly  human  in  form  and  name.  The  Gros  Ventre, 
Cheyenne,  Arapaho,  Hidatsa,  and  Mandan  seem  to 
have  a  similar  character  in  their  mythology. 

The  uniqueness  of  the  '  White-old-man '  appears 
when  we  consider  the  mythologies  of  the  adjoining  cul 
ture  areas.  Thus  between  the  Plains  and  the  Pacific 
Ocean  similar  tales  appear,  but  are  there  attributed  to 
an  animal  character  with  the  name  and  attributes  of  a 
coyote.  Under  this  name  he  appears  among  the  Crow, 
Nez  Perce,  and  Shoshoni,  on  the  western  fringe  of  the 
Plains,  but  rarely  among  the  Pawnee,  Arikara,  and 
Dakota  and  practically  never  among  the  tribes  desig 
nating  him  as  human.  Again  among  the  Assiniboin, 
Dakota,  and  Omaha,  this  hero  is  given  a  spider-like 
character  (Unktomi).  It  is  thus  clear  that  while  the 


RELIGION  AND  CEREMONIES  105 

border  tribes  of  the  Plains,  in  common  with  many  other 
parts  of  the  continent,  have  an  analogous  series  of  tales 
attributed  to  animal  characters,  the  tendency  at  the 
center  is  to  refer  the  same  tales  to  a  human  character. 
Curiously  enough,  the  names  for  this  character  all  have 
in  common  the  ideas  of  white  and  east  and  were  auto 
matically  applied  to  Europeans  when  first  encountered. 
For  these  reasons,  if  no  other,  the  occurrence  of  a  human 
trickster  hero  appears  as  one  of  the  most  distinctive 
characteristics  of  Plains  culture. 

Irrespective  *of  the  preceding  hero  cycle,  many 
animal  tales  are  to  be  found  in  the  Plains.  Among  these, 
as  in  most  every  part  of  the  world,  we  find  curious  ways 
of  explaining  the  structural  peculiarities  of  animals  as 
due  to  some  accident;  for  example,  the  Blackfoot 
trickster  in  a  rage  tried  to  pull  the  lynx  asunder  whence 
that  animal  now  has  a  long  body  and  awkward  legs. 
Such  explanations  abound  in  all  classes  of  myths  and  are 
considered  primary  and  secondary  according  to  whether 
they  directly  explain  the  present  phenomena  as  in  the 
case  of  the  lynx,  or  simply  narrate  an  anecdote  in  which 
the  transformation  is  a  mere  incident.  Occasionally, 
one  meets  with  a  tale  at  whose  ending  the  listener  is 
abruptly  told  that  thenceforth  things  were  ordered  so 
and  so,  the  logical  connection  not  being  apparent. 
Probably  what  happens  here  is  that  the  native  author 
knowing  it  to  be  customary  to  explain  similar  pheno 
mena  by  mythical  occurrences,  rather  crudely  adds  the 
explanation  to  a  current  tale.  However,  not  all  the 
animal  tales  of  the  Plains  function  as  explanations  of 


106  INDIANS  OF  THE  PLAINS 

origin  and  transformation,  for  there  are  tales  in  which 
supernatural  beings  appear  in  the  form  of  well-known 
animals  and  assist  or  grant  favors  to  human  beings. 
The  buffalo  is  a  favorite  character  and  is  seldom  en 
countered  in  the  mythology  from  other  areas.  The  bear, 
beaver,  elk,  eagle,  owl,  and  snake  are  frequently  re 
ferred  to  but  also  occur  in  the  myths  of  Woodland  and 
other  tribes.  Of  imaginary  creatures  the  most  conspicu 
ous  are  the  water  monster  and  the  thunderbird.  The 
former  is  usually  an  immense  horned  serpent  who  keeps 
under  water  and  who  fears  the  thunder.  The  thunder- 
bird  is  an  eagle-like  being  who  causes  thunder. 

Migration  legends  and  those  accounting  for  the 
origins  and  forms  of  tribal  beliefs  and  institutions  make 
up  a  large  portion  of  the  mythology  for  the  respective 
tribes  and  must  be  carefully  considered  in  formulating 
a  concept  of  the  religion  and  philosophy  of  each. 

Religious  Concepts.  To  most  of  us  the  mention 
of  religion  brings  to  mind  notions  of  God,  a  supreme  over 
ruling  and  decidedly  personal  being.  Nothing  just  like 
this  is  found  among  the  Indians.  Yet,  they  seem  to 
have  formulated  rather  complex  and  abstract  notions 
of  a  controlling  power  or  series  of  powers  pervading  the 
universe.  Thus,  the  Dakota  use  a  term  wakan  tanka 
which  seems  to  mean,  the  greatest  sacred  ones.  The 
term  has  often  been  rendered  as  the  great  mystery  but 
that  is  not  quite  correct.  It  is  true  that  anything 
strange  and  mysterious  is  pronounced  wakan,  or  as 
having  attributes  analogous  to  wakan  tanka;  but  this 
seems  to  mean  supernatural.  The  fact  is,  as  demon- 


RELIGION  AND  CEREMONIES  107 

strated  by  Dr.  J.  R.  Walker,  that  the  .Dakota  do  recog 
nize  a  kind  of  hierarchy  in  which  the  Sun  stands  first,  or 
as  one  of  the  wakan  tanka.  Of  almost  equal  rank  is  the 
Sky,  the  Earth,  and  the  Rock.  Next  in  order  is  another 
group  of  four,  the  Moon  (female),  Winged-one,  Wind 
and  the  " Mediator "  (female).  Then  come  inferior 
beings,  the  buffalo,  bear,  the  four  winds  and  the  whirl 
wind  ;  then  come  four  classes  or  groups  of  beings  and  so 
on  in  almost  bewildering  complexity.  So  far  as  we 
know,  no  other  Plains  tribe  has  worked  out  quite  so 
complex  a  conception.  The  Omaha  wakonda  is  in  a 
way  like  the  Dakota  wakan  tanka.  The  Pawnee  recog 
nized  a  dominating  power  spoken  of  as  tirawa,  or, 
" father,"  under  whom  were  the  heavenly  bodies,  the 
winds,  the  thunder,  lightning,  and  rain;  but  they  also 
recognized  a  sacred  quality,  or  presence,  in  the  pheno 
mena  of  the  world,  spoken  of  as  kawaharu,  a  term  whose 
neaning  closely  parallels  the  Dakota  wakan.  The 
Blackfoot  resolved  the  phenomena  of  the  universe  into 
"  powers/7  the  greatest  and  most  universal  of  which  is 
natosiwa,  or  sun  power.  The  sun  was  in  a  way  a  per 
sonal  god  having  the  moon  for  his  wife  and  the  morning- 
star  for  his  son.  Unfortunately,  we  lack  data  for  most 
tribes,  this  being  a  point  peculiarly  difficult  to  investi 
gate.  One  thing,  however,  is  suggested.  There  is 
tendency  here  to  conceive  of  some  all-pervading  force  or 
element  in  the  universe  that  emanates  from  an  indefinite 
source  to  which  a  special  name  is  given,  which  in  turn 
becomes  an  attribute  applicable  to  each  and  every  mani 
festation  of  this  conceivedly  divine  element.  Probably 


108  INDIANS  OF  THE  PLAINS 

nowhere,  not  even  among  the  Dakota,  is  there  a  clear- 
cut  formulation  of  a  definite  god-like  being  with  definite 
powers  and  functions. 

A  Supernatural  Helper.  It  is  much  easier,  how 
ever,  to  gather  reliable  data  on  religious  activities  or  the 
functioning  of  these  beliefs  in  actual  life.  In  the  Plains, 
as  well  as  in  some  other  parts  of  the  continent,  the  ideal 
is  for  all  males  to  establish  some  kind  of  direct  relation 
with  this  divine  element  or  power.  The  idea  is  that  if 
one  follows  the  proper  formula,  the  power  will  appear  in 
some  human  or  animal  form  and  will  form  a  compact 
with  the  applicant  for  his  good  fortune  during  life.  The 
procedure  is  usually  for  a  youth  to  put  himself  in  the 
hands  of  a  priest,  or  shaman,  who  instructs  him  and 
requires  him  to  fast  and  pray  alone  in  some  secluded 
spot  until  the  vision  or  dream  is  obtained.  In  the 
Plains  such  an  experience  results  in  the  conferring  of  one 
or  more  songs,  the  laying  on  of  certain  curious  formal 
taboos,  and  of  the  designation  of  some  object,  as  a 
feather,  skin,  shell,  etc.,  to  be  carried  and  used  as  a 
charm  or  medicine  bundle.  This  procedure  has  been 
definitely  reported  for  the  Sarsi,  Plains-Cree,  Blackfoot, 
Gros  Ventre,  Crow,  Hidatsa,  Mandan,  Dakota,  Assini- 
boin,  Omaha,  Arapaho,  Cheyenne,  Kiowa,  and  Pawnee. 
It  is  probably  universal  except  perhaps  among  the  Ute , 
Shoshoni,  and  Nez  Perce.  We  know  also  that  it  is  fre 
quent  among  the  Woodland  Cree,  Menomini,  and  Ojib- 
way.  Aside  from  hunger  and  thirst,  there  was  no  self 
torture  except  among  the  Dakota  and  possibly  a  few 
others  of  Siouan  stock.  With  these  it  was  the  rule 


RELIGION  AND  CEREMONIES  109 

for  all  desiring  to  become  shamans,  or  those  in  close 
rapport  with  the  divine  element,  to  thrust  skewers 
through  the  skin  and  tie  themselves  up  as  in  the  sun 
dance,  to  be  discussed  later. 

NOWT,  when  a  Blackfoot,  a  Dakota,  or  an  Omaha 
went  out  to  fast  and  pray  for  a  revelation,  he  called 
upon  all  the  recognized  mythical  creatures,  the  heavenly 
bodies,  and  all  in  the  earth  and  in  the  waters,  which  is 
consistent  with  the  conceptions  of  an  illy  localized  power 
or  element  manifest  everywhere.  No  doubt  this  applies 
equally  to  all  the  aforesaid  tribes.  If  this  divine 
element  spoke  through  a  hawk,  for  example,  the 
applicant  would  then  look  upon  that  bird  as  the 
localization  or  medium  for  it;  and  for  him,  wakonda, 
or  what  not,  was  manifest  or  resided  therein;  but,  of 
course,  not  exclusively.  Quite  likely,  he  would  keep 
in  a  bundle  the  skin  or  feathers  of  a  hawk  that  the 
divine  presence  might-  ever  be  at  hand.  This  is  why 
the  warriors  of  the  Plains  carried  such  charms  into  battle 
and  looked  to  them  for  aid.  It  is  not  far  wrong  to  say 
that  all  religious  ceremonies  and  practices  (all  the 
so-called  medicines  of  the  Plains  Indians)  originate 
and  receive  their  sanction  in  dreams  or  induced  visions, 
all,  in  short,  handed  down  directly  by  this  wonderful 
vitalizing  element. 

Medicine  Bundles.  In  anthropological  literature 
it  is  the  custom  to  use  the  term  medicine  in  a  technical 
sense,  meaning  anything  that  manifests  the  divine 
element.  Among  the  Blackfoot,  Arapaho,  Crow,  Kiowa, 
Hidatsa,  and  Mandan  especially  and  to  varying  extent 


110  INDIANS  OF  THE  PLAINS 

among  the  other  tribes  of  the  Plains,  the  men  made 
extraordinary  use  of  these  charms  or  amulets,  which 
were,  after  all,  little  medicine  bundles.  A  man  rarely 
went  to  war  or  engaged  in  any  serious  undertaking  with 
out  carrying  and  appealing  to  one  or  more  of  these  small 
bundles.  They  usually  originated,  as  just  stated,  in  the 
dreams  or  visions  of  so-called  medicinemen  who  gave 
them  out  for  fees.  With  them  were  often  one  or  more 
songs  and  a  formula  of  some  kind.  Examples  of  these 
may  be  seen  in  the  Museum's  Pawnee  and  Blackfoot 
collections,  where  they  seem  most  highly  developed. 

In  addition  to  these  many  small  individual  and 
more  or  less  personal  medicines,  many  tribes  have  more 
pretentious  bundles  of  sacred  objects  which  are  seldom 
opened  and  never  used  except  in  connection  with 
certain  solemn  ceremonies.  We  refer  to  such  as  the 
tribal  bundles  of  the  Pawnee,  the  medicine  arrows  of 
the  Cheyenne,  the  sacred  pipe  and  the  wheel  of  the 
Arapaho,  the  "taimay"  image  of  the  Kiowa,  the  Okipa 
drums  of  the  Mandan,  and  the  buffalo  calf  pipe  of 
the  Dakota.  In  addition  to  these  very  famous  ones, 
there  are  numerous  similar  bundles  owned  by  individu 
als,  especially  among  the  Blackfoot,  Sarsi,  Gros 
Ventre,  Omaha,  Hidatsa,  and  Pawnee.  The  best 
known  type  of  bundle  is  the  medicine-pipe  which  is 
highly  developed  among  the  Blackfoot  and  their 
immediate  neighbors.  In  the  early  literature  of  the 
area  frequent  reference  is  made  to  the  calumet,  or  in 
this  case,  a  pair  of  pipestems  waved  in  the  demonstra 
tion  of  a  ritual  binding  the  participants  in  a  firm 


Fig.  39.    Medicine-pipe  and  Bundle.    Blackfoot. 
ill 


i 


RELIGION  AND  CEREMONIES  113 

brotherhood.  This  ceremony  is  reported  among  the 
Pawnee,  Omaha,  Ponca,  Mandan,  and  Dakota,  and 
according  to  tradition,  originated  with  the  Pawnee.  The 
use  of  either  type  of  pipe  bundle  seems  not  to  have 
reached  the  western  tribes.  One  singular  thing  is  that 
in  all  these  medicine-pipes,  it  is  the  stem  that  is  sacred, 
often  it  is  not  even  perforated,  is  frequently  without  a 
bowl,  and  in  any  event  rarely  actually  smoked.  It  is 
thus  clear  that  the  whole  is  highly  symbolic. 

The  war  bundles  of  the  Osage  have  not  been  in 
vestigated  but  seem  to  belong  to  a  type  widely  distrib 
uted  among  the  Pawnee,  Sauk  and  Fox,  Menomini,  and 
Winnebago  of  the  Woodland  area.  Among  the  Black- 
foot,  there  is  a  special  development  of  the  bundle 
scheme  in  that  they  recognize  the  transferring  of  bundles 
and  amulets  to  other  persons  together  with  the  compact 
between  the  original  o\vner  and  the  divine  element. 
The  one  receiving  the  bundle  pays  a  handsome  sum  to 
the  former  owner.  This  buying  and  selling  of  medi 
cines  is  so  frequent  that  many  men  have  at  one  time 
and  another  owned  all  the  types  of  bundles  in  the  tribe. 

The  greatest  bundle  development,  however,  seems 
to  rest  with  the  Pawnee,  one  of  the  less  typical  Plains 
tribes,  whose  whole  tribal  organization  is  expressed  in 
bundle  rituals  and  their  relations  to  each  other.  For 
example,  the  Skidi  Pawnee,  the  tribal  division  best 
known,  base  their  religious  and  governmental  authority 
upon  a  series  of  bundles  at  the  head  of  which  is  the 
Eveningstar  bundle.  The  ritual  of  this  bundle  recites 
the  order  and  purpose  of  the  Creation  and  is  called 


114  INDIANS  OF  THE   PLAINS 

upon  to  initiate  and  authorize  every  important  under 
taking.  The  most  sacred  object  in  this  bundle  is  an  ear 
of  corn,  spoken  of  as  'Mother/  and  symbolizing  the 
life  of  man.  Similar  ears  are  found  in  all  the  important 
bundles  of  the  Pawnee  and  one  such  ear  was  carried  by  a 
war  party  for  use  in  the  observances  of  the  warpath. 
From  all  this  we  see  that  the  emphasis  of  Pawnee 
thought  and  religious  feeling  is  placed  upon  cultivated 
plants  in  contrast  to  the  more  typical  Plains  tribes  who 
make  no  attempts  at  agriculture,  but  who  put  the  chief 
stress  upon  buffalo  ceremonies.  The  tendency  to  sur 
round  the  growing  of  maize  with  elaborate  ceremonies  is 
characteristic  of  the  Pueblo  Indians  of  the  Southwest 
and  also  of  such  tribes  east  of  the  Mississippi  as  made  a 
specialty  of  agriculture. 

In  the  Museum  collections  are  a  few  important 
bundles,  a  medicine-pipe,  and  a  sun  dance  bundle 
(natoas)  from. the  Blackfoot,  the  latter  a  very  sacred 
thing;  an  Arapaho  bundle;  the  sacred  image  used 
in  the  Crow  sun  dance ;  an  Osage  war  bundle ;  a  series  of 
tribal  bundles  from  the  Pawnee,  etc.  To  them  the 
reader  is  referred  for  further  details. 

Tribal  Ceremonies.  In  addition  to  the  above 
ceremonial  practices,  there  are  a  number  of  procedures 
deserving  special  mention.  Most  tribes  had  a  series  of 
ceremonies  for  calling  the  buffalo  and  inducing  them  to 
enter  the  pound  or  to  permit  themselves  to  be  easily 
taken  by  the  hunters.  These  have  not  been  satis 
factorily  investigated  but  seem  to  have  varied  a  great 
deal  probably  because  this  function  was  usually  dele- 


116  INDIANS  OF  THE  PLAINS 

gated  to  a  few  tribal  shamans  each  of  whom  exercised 
his  own  special  formulae.  The  Crow,  the  Blackfoot, 
and  perhaps  a  few  other  tribes  had  elaborate  tobacco 
planting  ceremonies.  The  Pawnee  formerly  sacrificed 
a  captured  maiden  in  a  ceremony  to  the  Morningstar, 
the  procedure  showing  close  parallels  to  Aztec  practices, 
and  some  of  the  maize-grqwing  tribes  in  this  area  are 
credited  with  a  " green  corn"  or  harvest  dance,  a 
characteristic  of  the  tribes  east  of  the  Mississippi. 
The  Pawnee  also  maintained  some  curious  ceremonies 
in  which  shamans  performed  remarkable  tricks  and 
demonstrated  their  magical  powers.  Turning  from 
these  rather  exceptional  practices,  we  find  certain 
highly  typical  ceremonies. 

The  Sun  Dance.  One  of  the  most  important  tribal 
ceremonies  is  the  so-called  sun  dance.  The  name  as 
used  in  literature  is  probably  derived  from  the  Dakota 
wrho  speak  of  one  phase  of  the  ceremony  as  sun-gaze- 
dancing:  i.  e.,  the  worshipper  gazes  steadily  at  the  sun 
while  dancing.  To  a  less  extent,  this  is  one  of  the 
objective  features  of  the  ceremony  wherever  performed 
and  is  occasionally  associated  with  a  torture  feature  in 
which  skewers  are  thrust  through  the  skin  of  the  breast 
and  back  and  the  devotee  suspended  or  required  to 
dance  until  the  skin  gives  away,  all  the  time  supplicating 
the  sun  for  divine  guidance. 

Another  feature  is  that  in  the  center  of  the  cere 
monial  place  is  set  up  a  tree,  or  sun  pole,  which  is  scouted 
for,  counted  coup  upon,  and  felled,  as  if  it  were  an 
enemy.  Upon  this,  offerings  of  cloth  are  made  to  the 


Fig.  42.     Digging  Stick  and  Case  for  Blackfoot  Sun  Dance  Bundle. 

117 


Fig.  43.     Sun  Dance  Headdress.    Blackfoot. 

118 


RELIGION  AND  CEREMONIES 


119 


sun.  In  the  fork  at  the  top  is  usually  a  bunch  of  twigs, 
in  some  cases  called  the  nest  of  the  thunderbird.  With 
in  the  enclosure  on  the  left  side  an  altar  is  made. 

The  time  of  the  sun  dance  is  in  midsummer.  It  is 
usually  initiated  by  the  vow  of  a  man  or  woman  to  make 
it  as  a  sacrifice  in  return  for  some  heeded  prayer  in 
time  of  great  danger.  The  soldier  societies,  the 
women's  society,  and  other  organizations,  generally 
take  turns  dancing  at  the  sun  pole  after  the  above 
named  rites  have  been  concluded.  As  a  rule  all  who 
perform  important  functions  in  the  sun  dance  are 
required  to  spend  several  days  in  fasting  and  other 
purification  ceremonies. 

Some  form  of  sun  dance  has  been  reported  for  all  the 
tribes  of  this  area  except  the  Comanche,  Omaha,  Iowa, 
Kansa,  Missouri,  Osage,  Oto,  Pawnee,  Wichita,  Ban 
nock,  and  Nez  Perce:  that  even  some  of  these  formerly 
practised  it,  is  probable.  The  Mandan  had  an  elaborate 
ceremony  known  as  the  Okipa,  fully  described  by  George 
Catlin  who  visited  that  tribe  in  1832.  This  is  not  a 
sun  dance,  but  contains  the  self-torture  practised  by  the 
Dakota. 

When  we  consider  the  total  distribution  of  the  sun 
dance  it  appears  that  its  ceremonial  complex,  like  that 
for  soldier  societies  (p.  96),  presents  several  features 
variously  combined  and  distributed.  These  are  the 
torture,  the  circular  shelter  of  poles,  the  use  of  a  sacred 
bundle,  the  altar,  the  erection  of  a  sun  pole,  and  the 
dancing  ceremonies.  The  form  of  shelter  shown  in  the 
Arapaho  model  has  been'observed  among  the  Arapaho, 


120  INDIANS  OF  THE  PLAINS 

Gros  Ventre,  Kiowa,  Ute,  Shoshoni,  Plains-Ojibway, 
Cheyenne,  Blackfoot,  Sarsi,  Plains-Cree,  and  Hidatsa. 
With  the  possible  exception  of  the  Plains-Cree  all  used 
a  sacred  bundle  of  some  form.  (For  examples  see  the 
Blackfoot  and  Crow  collections.)  The  Crow  used  a 
bundle  containing  an  image,  but  a  different  form  of 
shelter.  The  Ponca  and  Dakota  used  no  bundles 
but  a  shelter  of  another  type  from  that  shown  in  the 
model,  but  both  had  the  torture,  sun-gaze-dancing,  and 
the  sun  pole. 

Ghost  Dance  Ceremonies.  Even  within  historic 
t i  mes,  there  have  been  several  interesting  religious  devel 
op  ments  among  the  Plains  Indians.  The  most  noted  of 
these  was  the  ghost  dance.  This  was  a  religious  cere 
mony  founded  upon  the  belief  in  the  coming  of  a 
Messiah,  which  seems  to  have  originated  among  the 
Paviotso  Indians  in  Nevada  (Plateau  area)  about  1888 
and  which  spread  rapidly  among  the  Indians  of  the 
Plains.  The  prophet  of  the  religion  was  a  young  Paiute 
Indian  (Plateau  Area)  who  claimed  to  have  had  a 
revelation  while  in  a  delirious  condition  caused  by  an 
attack  of  fever.  The  Teton-Dakota  seem  to  have  first 
heard  of  the  new  religion  in  1889  and  in  a  council  held 
by  Red-cloud,  appointed  a  committee  to  visit  the 
prophet  and  investigate.  On  this  committee  were 
Short-bull  and  Kicking-bear,  who  returned  very  enthu 
siastic  converts  and  began  preaching  the  new  religion 
among  the  Dakota.  The  principal  belief  was  that  an 
Indian  Messiah  was  about  to  appear  to  destroy  the 
white  race,  and  restore  the  buffalo  with  all  former 


RELIGIOX  AXD  CEREMONIES  121 

customs.  As  in  all  Indian  ceremonies,  dancing  played 
a  large  part,  but  in  this  case  the  dancers  usually  fell 
into  a  hypnotic  trance  and  upon  recovering  recounted 
their  visions  and  supernatural  experiences.  All  partici 
pants  were  provided  with  decorated  cloth  garments 
bearing  symbolic  designs  which  were  believed  to  have 
such  relation  with  the  coming  Messiah  that  all  who 
wore  them  would  be  protected  from  all  harm.  Among 
white  people  these  garments  were  generally  known  as 
" bullet  proof  shirts"  (see  Dakota  collections). 


Fig.  44.     Peyote  Button. 

The  enthusiasm  over  the  new  ghost  dance  religion 
spread  over  the  several  Dakota  Indian  reservations, 
resulting  in  the  attempted  arrest  and  killing  of  the 
famous  Sitting-bull  by  the  Indian  police  and  hostile 
demonstrations  on  the  Pine  Ridge  Reservation,  under 
the  leadership  of  Short-bull  and  Kicking-bear.  In 
consequence,  United  States  troops  were  concentrated 
on  the  Pine  Ridge  Reservation  under  the  command  of 
General  Nelson  A.  Miles.  The  hostility  of  the  Indians 
increased  until  December  29,  1890,  when  there  was  an 
engagement  between  Big-foot's  band  and  the  com- 


122  INDIANS  OF  THE  PLAINS 

mand  of  Colonel  Forsyth  on  Wounded  Knee  Creek,  in 
which  thirty-one  soldiers  and  one  hundred  twenty-eight 
Indians  were  killed.  In  a  short  time  after  this  decisive 
engagement,  practically  all  the  Indians  laid  down  their 
arms  and  abandoned  the  ghost  dance  religion.  It  is 
probable,  however,  that  some  of  the  ceremonies  con 
nected  with  the  ghost  dance  religion  are  performed  even 
to  this  day,  since  several  of  the  leaders  are  still  living. 

Practically  all  of  the  typical  tribes  (p.  19)  took  up 
the  new  beliefs  about  the  same  time  but  no  where  else 
did  the  excitement  lead  to  violence.  Among  the 
Cheyenne,  Arapaho,  and  Gros  Ventre,  the  ceremonies 
still  exist  in  a  modified  form,  apparently  combined  with 
the  Omaha  or  grass  dance  (p.  123). 

Peyote  Worship.  There  are  curious  ceremonies 
connected  with  the  eating  or  administering  of  the  dried 
fruit  of  a  small  cactus  (Anhalonium  or  Laphophora) , 
native  of  the  lower  Rio  Grande  and  Mexico.  The  name 
"mescal"  is  wrongly  applied  to  this  fruit  by  many 
white  observers.  Long  ago,  these  ceremonies  seem  to 
have  been  knowrn  to  the  Kiowa  and  Comanche  of  the 
Plains  and  widely  distributed  in  the  Southwest  and 
Mexico.  The  rites  begin  in  the  evening  and  continue 
until  the  following  dawn,  and  are  restricted  to  men. 
There  is  a  definite  ritual,  a  small  drum  and  rattle  of 
special  form  being  essential.  Within  the  last  few  years, 
this  worship  has  become  general  among  the  Arapaho, 
Cheyenne,  Omaha,  Dakota,  and  Kiowa,  and  threatens 
to  supplant  all  other  native  ceremonies.  It  is  even 
found  among  the  Winnebago,  Sauk  and  Fox,  and 


RELIGION  AND  CEREMONIES  123 

Menomini  of  the  Woodlands.  This  diffusion  in  historic 
times,  makes  it  one  of  the  most  suggestive  phenomena 
for  students  of  Indian  life,  since  it  affords  an  indisput 
able  example  of  culture  diffusion. 

Dancing  Associations.  There  are  a  number  of 
semi-religious  festivals  or  ceremonies  in  which  a  large 
number  of  individuals  participate  and  which  seem  to  have 
been  handed  on  from  one  tribe  to  another.  The  best 
known  example  of  this  is  the  Omaha  or  Grass  dance 
which  has  been  reported  for  the  Arapaho,  Pawnee, 
Omaha,  Dakota,  Crow,  Gros  Ventre,  Assiniboin,  and 
Blackfoot.  The  various  tribes  agree  in  their  belief 
that  this  dance,  and  its  regalia  originated  with  the 
Pawnee.  The  Dakota  claim  to  have  obtained  it 
directly  from  the  PaAvnee  about  1870.  The  Arapaho 
and  Gros  Ventre  claim  to  have  learned  it  from  the 
Dakota.  The  Gros  Ventre  taught  it  to  the  Blackfoot 
about  1883.  Though  these  statements  of  the  Indians 
are  not  to  be  taken  as  absolutely  correct,  they  indicate 
that  this  dance  is  a  modern  innovation.  Recently, 
the  Blackfoot  have  carried  the  dance  to  the  Flathead 
and  Kootenai  tribes  to  the  west. 

The  meetings  are  held  at  night  in  large  circular 
wooden  buildings  erected  for  that  purpose.  Some  of 
the  dancers  wear  large  feather  bustles,  called  crow  belts, 
and  peculiar  roached  headdresses  of  hair.  A  feast 
of  dog's  flesh  is  served  at  which  many  members  for 
mally  give  away  property  to  the  poor.  They  even  go  so 
far  now  and  then,  as  to  formally  put  away  a  wife  as 
the  greatest  act  of  self-denial. 


124  INDIANS  OF  THE  PLAINS 

In  the  same  class  may  be  mentioned  the  kissing  or 
hugging  dance,  sometimes  called  the  Cree  dance.  This 
seems  to  have  come  from  the  north  and  resembles  a 
form  of  dance  once  common  among  the  half-breed 
Canadians.  In  the  Plains,  however,  it  has  Indian 
songs  and  other  undoubtedly  native  features.  To 
this  list  may  be  added  the  tea  dances,  the  horseback 
dances,  etc. 

Among  these  Indians  each  distinct  ceremony  or 
dance  has  its  own  peculiar  set  of  songs  to  which  addi 
tions  are  made  from  time  to  time. 

War  and  Scalp  Dances.  The  scalp  or  some  other 
part  of  the  foe  was  often  carried  home  and  given  to  the 
women  of  the  family  who  made  a  feast  and  danced  in 
public  with  songs  and  cheers  for  the  victors.  A  party 
about  to  go  to  war  wrould  gather  in  the  evening,  sing, 
dance,  and  observe  certain  religious  rites  to  ensure 
success.  In  all  of  these  there  seems  to  have  been  little 
that  was  distinctive  or  peculiar  to  the  Plains. 

Ceremonial  Procedure.  It  is  rather  difficult  to 
characterize  satisfactorily  the  many  detailed  ceremonies 
of  the  Plains,  but  some  points  are  clear.  Inmost  we  find 
an  inordinate  amount  of  singing,  often  extending  over 
an  entire  day  and  night,  interspersed  with  prayers  and 
the  handling  of  sacred  objects  or  bundles  and  occasional 
dancing.  The  sweat  house  is  used  for  preliminary  puri 
fication  and  incense  is  burned  at  intervals  during  the 
ceremony.  The  participants  usually  sit  in  a  circle  with 
a  fire  at  the  center.  A  man  leads  and  has  the  entire 
direction  of  the  ritual,  other  men  and  perhaps  women 


RELIGION  AXD  CEREMONIES  125 

assisting  him.    A  kind  of  altar  or  earth  painting  is  com 
mon.     This  is  usually  a  small  square  of    fresh  earth 
between  the  leader  and  the  fire  upon  which  symbols  are 
made  by  dropping  dry  paint,  suggesting  the  sand  paint 
ing  of  the  Navajo,  but  otherwise  highly  individual  in 
character.     In  the  manipulation  of  ceremonial  objects 
we  often  observe  four  movements,  or  three  feints  before 
anything  is  done.     Again,  many  objects  are  not    put 
down  directly  but  moved  around  in  a  sunwise  direction. 
All  such  manipulations  are  likely  to  be  common  to  all 
ceremonies  and  therefore  not  distinctive  or  significant. 
It  is  not  far  wrong  to  say  that  all  these  ceremonies 
are  demonstrations  of  the  ritual  associated  with  some 
bundle  or  objects  and  represent  the  original  visions  or 
experiences  in  which  the  whole  was  handed  down.     The 
demonstration  seems  to  be  ordered  on  the  theory,  that, 
as  in  the  original  revelation,  the  divine  element  will  be 
present    in    the    objects    and    appurtenances    thereto. 
The  persons  participating  are  rather  passive.     We  have 
practically  no  attempts  to  impersonate  and  to  act  out 
in   detail   the   parts   played   by   supernatural    beings. 
This  is  shown  in  the  almost  entire  absence  of  masks 
and  ceremonial  costume.     Thus,  among  the    Indians 
of  the  North  Pacific  area,  the  Pueblos  of  the  Southwest, 
and  the  Iroquois  of  the  Woodlands,  we   find  persons 
in  ceremonies  dressed  and  masked  to  represent    the 
various  gods  or  supernatural  creatures  and  who  act  out 
parts  of  the  ritual.     Even  among  the  Navajo  and  the 
Apache  of  the  Southwest,  these  costumes  play  a  con 
spicuous  part.    All  this  is  rare  in  the  strictly  religious 


126  INDIANS  OF  THE  PLAINS 

ceremonies  of  the  Plains  and  brings  out  by  contrast 
what  is  perhaps  one  of  their  most  characteristic 
features. 

Painting  the  face  and  body  and  the  use  of  a  pipe  are 
also  highly  developed  elements.  In  most  cases,  there 
is  a  distinct  painting  for  each  ceremony,  again  supposed 
to  be  according  to  the  directions  of  the  initial  revelation. 
A  lighted  pipe  is  not  only  frequently  passed  during  a 
ceremony  but  is  also  filled  to  the  accompaniment  of 
ceremonial  movements  and  offered  with  prayers  to 
many  or  all  of  the  recognized  sources  of  the  higher 
powers. 

The  only  musical  instruments  used  in  these  cere 
monies  are  rattles,  drums,  and  whistles. 


CHAPTER  IV. 
DECORATIVE  AND  RELIGIOUS  ART. 

THE  Plains  Indians  have  a  well-developed  decora 
tive  art  in  which  simple  geometric  designs  are  the 
elements  of  composition.     This  art  is  primarily 
the  work  of  women.    Clothing  and  other  useful  articles, 
made  of  skins,  were  rendered  attractive  by  designs  in 


Fig.  45.    Types  of  Designs  on  Moccasins.    (Kroeber). 

beads  and  quills.  Rawhide  bags  and  parfleche  (p.  65- 
7)  were  treated  with  a  peculiar  type  of  painting  in 
many  colors.  Realistic  art  was  practised  chiefly  by  men 
in  the  recording  of  war  deeds  (p.  100)  and  reached  a  high 
degree  of  excellence  among  the  Dakota  and  Mandan. 
The  technical  .aspect  of  bead  and  quill  work  of  the 


127 


128 


INDIANS  OF  THE  PLAINS 


Plains  is  quite  peculiar.  Formerly,  there  was  little  or 
none  of  the  woven  work  so  common  in  the  Eastern 
Woodlands  and  the  forests  of  Canada,  the  method  here 
being  to  lay  the  quills  on  the  surface  of  skins  in  large 
geometric  areas.  The  beads  now  in  use  were  intro 
duced  by  traders  and  have  almost  displaced  the  original 
art  of  porcupine  quill  embroidery. 


A 


d  d 


III 


Fig.  46.     Design  Elements,  Bead  and  Quill  Embroidery.     (Kroeber). 

The  most  numerous  decorated  objects  in  collections 
are  moccasins  which  therefore  offer  an  extensive  design 
series.  Though  often  examples  of  each  design  may 
be  found  upon  the  moccasins  in  a  single  tribe,  the 
tendencies  are  always  toward  a  few  tribal  types.  Thus, 
the  Arapaho  predominate  in  longitudinal  stripes 
(Fig.  45,  a-d),  the  Dakota  in  definite  figures  (f,  g,  m, 
n,  o),  the  Blackfoot  in  U-shaped  figures  (k),  etc. 
Additional  designs  will  be  found  upon  leggings,  bags, 
and  pouches.  All  these  designs  may  be  resolved  into 
simple  geometrical  elements  or  patterns  (Fig.  46). 


DECORATIVE  ART  129 

Here  also,  tribal  preferences  are  to  be  found.  The 
rawhide  paintings  are  also  geometric  and  though  the 
designs  first  appear  quite  complex,  they  can  readily 
be  resolved  into  triangles  and  rectangles.  Another 
point  of  special  interest  is  that  some  tribes  give  these 
conventionalized  designs  a  symbolic  value.  This  is 
particularly  true  of  the  Arapaho. 

Thus  Fig.  47  shows  a  moccasin  which  is  beaded 
around  the  edges,  but  has  its  front  surface  traversed 
by  a  number  of  quilled  lines.  The  white  bead  work 
represents  the  ground.  Green  zigzag  lines  upon  it  are 


Fig.  47.     Arapaho  Moccasin  with  Symbolic  Decoration. 

snakes.  The  quilled  lines  represent  sweathouse  poles. 
These  lines  are  red,  blue,  and  yellow,  and  the  colors 
represent  stones  of  different  colors,  used  for  producing 
steam  in  the  sweathouse.  At  the  heel  of  the  moccasin, 
which  is  not  shown  in  the  figure,  are  two  small  green 
squares.  These  represent  the  blankets  with  which 
the  sweathouse  is  covered. 

The  design  of  a  snake  was  embroidered  on  this 
moccasin  in  order  that  the  child  wearing  it  might  not 
be  bitten  by  snakes.  The  symbols  referring  to  the 


130  INDIANS  OF  THE  PLAINS 

sweathouse  were  embroidered  on  the  moccasin  in 
order  that  the  child  might  grow  to  the  age  at  which  the 
sweathouse  is  principally  used ;  namely,  old  age. 

The  Dakota  also  have  interpretations  for  their 
designs  but  seemingly  to  a  less  degree  than  the  Arapaho. 
Among  other  tribes,  occasional  cases  of  symbolism 
have  been  reported.  In  the  Museum  collections  is  a 
pair  of  moccasins  from  the  Plains-Ojibway  bearing 
Plains  designs  and  accompanied  by  a  definite  symbolic 
interpretation.  All  this  suggests  that  there  must  have 
one  time  been  a  marked  undercurrent  of  symbolism 
in  the  art  of  the  Plains. 

It  was  once  assumed  that  when  you  found  in  the 
art  of  any  people  a  geometric  design,  said  to  stand  for 
a  definite  plant  or  animal  form,  the  realistic  drawing 
was  the  original  form  from  which  it  was  derived  by  a 
process  of  conventionalization.  When  we  attempt  to 
apply  this  principle  to  the  art  of  the  Dakota  and  the 
Arapaho,  for  instance,  we  find  in  some  cases  the 
same  geometrical  figure  used  by  both  tribes  but  to 
symbolize  entirely  different  objects.  We  are,  therefore, 
forced  to  assume  that  there  is  no  necessary  connection 
between  the  life  history  of  a  decorative  design  and  the 
object  it  symbolizes.  Plains  art  clearly  shows  that 
often  along  with  a  style  of  designs,  goes  also  a  style  or 
mode  of  interpretation.  Since  this  interpretation  is 
a  reading-in  on  the  part  of  those  having  such  a  mode, 
any  vague  resemblance  will  suffice. 


DECORATIVE  ART 


131 


This  is  nicely  illustrated  in  the  curious  U-shaped 
figure  upon  the  beaded  yokes  of  many  woman's  dresses. 
Some  Teton-Dakota  women  once  said  this  had  always 
been  known  to  them  as  representing  a  turtle's  head  and 
legs  as  he  emerged  from  the  lake  (the  beaded  yoke). 


Fig.  48.     Painted  Designs  on  a  Woman's  Robe.     Dakota. 

Yet,  somewhat  similar  figures  occur  on  the  dresses  of 
other  tribes  from  whom  no  such  symbolism  has  been 
reported.  This  might  be  explained  as  brought  about 
by  the  other  tribes  borrowing  the  pattern  from  the 
Teton;  but  when  many  of  these  garments  are  examined, 


132  INDIANS  OF  THE  PLAINS 

we  observe  that  often  the  U-shaped  turn  is  made  to 
carry  the  beaded  border  around  the  hairy  tail  of  the 
deer  left,  or  sewed,  upon  the  skin  from  wrhich  the  gar 
ment  wras  made.  The  tail  tuft  naturally  falls  just 
below  the  yoke  because  the  dresses  are  fashioned  by 
joining  the  tail  ends  of  two  skins  by  a  yoke,  or  neck 
piece.  Hence,  it  seems  more  probable  that  the  pattern 
was  developed  as  a  mere  matter  of  technique  and  that 
later  on  the  Teton  read  into  it  the  symbolism  of  the 
turtle,  because  of  some  fancied  resemblance  to  that 
animal  and  because  of  some  special  appropriateness. 

The  preceding  remarks  apply  exclusively  to  objects 
in  which  the  motive  was  chiefly  decorative.  There 
was  another  kind  of  art  in  which  the  motive  was  mainly 
religious,  as  the  paintings  upon  the  Blackfoot  tipi,  the 
figures  upon  the  ghost  dance  shirts  of  the  Dakota,  etc. 
Such  drawings,  as  with  heraldry  devices  (p.  100),  were 
almost  exclusively  the  work  of  men.  Another  sugges 
tive  point  is  that  this  more  serious  art  tends  to  be 
realistic  in  contrast  to  the  highly  geometric  form  of 
decorative  art. 

In  general,  an  objective  study  of  this  art  suggests 
that  the  realistic,  decorative,  and  other  art  seem  to 
have  been  greatly  developed  on  the  northeastern  border 
of  the  area,  while  the  geometric  was  most  accentuated 
on  the  southwestern.  Thus  on  the  northeast,  beyond 
the  limit  of  our  area,  the  0  jib  way  especially  possessed 
a  highly  developed  pictographic  type  of  art  while  the 
Ute  (Shoshoni)  of  the  extreme  southwest  of  the  area 
seem  to  have  practised  no  such  pictographic  art  but 


DECORATIVE    ART 


133 


presented  in  contrast  a  highly  developed  geometric 
type  both  in  embroidery  and  rawhide  painting.  Taking 
the  Arapaho  and  Teton-Dakota  as  two  intermediate 
groups,  we  find  the  former  inclining  to  the  geometric 
art  of  their  Shoshonean  neighbors,  while  the  latter  show 
almost  equal  proficiency  in  the  two  contrasting  types. 
Thus,  we  seem  to  have  two  influences  from  opposite 
directions,  reinforcing  the  common  suggestion  that 
the  geometric  art  of  this  area  was  introduced  from  the 
southwestern  part  of  the  continent. 


Fig.  49.     Blanket  Band  in  Quills.     Blackfoot. 


CHAPTER  V. 
LANGUAGE. 

AS  STATED  at  the  outset,  it  is  customary  to 
classify  peoples  according  to  their  languages.  The 
main  groups  are  what  are  called  stock  languages, 
or  families.  Under  such  heads  are  placed  all  languages 
that  seem  to  have  had  a  common  origin  regardless  of 
whether  they  are  mutually  intelligible  or  not.  Thus 
English  and  German  are  distinct  forms  of  speech,  yet 
they  are  considered  as  belonging  to  the  same  stock,  or 
family.  In  North  America,  there  are  more  than  fifty 
such  families,  of  which  seven  have  representatives  in  the 
Plains.  Only  one,  however,  the  Kiowa,  is  entirely  con 
fined  to  the  area,  though  the  Siouan  and  Caddoan  are 
chiefly  found  within  its  bounds.  The  others  (Algon- 
kian,  Shoshonean,  Athapascan,  and  Shahaptian)  have 
much  larger  representation  elsewhere,  which  naturally 
leads  us  to  infer  that  they  must  have  migrated  into  the 
Plains.  Though  this  is  quite  probable,  it  cannot  be 
proven  from  the  data  at  hand,  except  possibly  for  the 
Algonkian-speaking  Plains-Ojibway  and  Cheyenne, 
of  whose  recent  movement  out  into  the  Plains,  we  have 
historic  evidence.  These  tribes  are  of  special  interest 
to  students,  since  in  a  comparatively  short  period  of 
time,  they  put  away  most  of  their  native  culture  and 
took  on  that  of  their  neighbors  in  the  Plains. 

134 


LANGUAGE 

INDIANS  or  THE  PLAINS,  ACCORDING  TO  LANGUAGE. 

Siouan  Language  ^ 
Assiniboin  Mandan 


Crow 

Missouri 

Dakota 

Omaha 

Hidatsa 

Osage 

Iowa 

Oto 

Kansa 

Ponca 

Algonkian  Language 
Arapaho  Gros  Ventre 

Blackfoot  Plains-Cree 

Cheyenne  Plains-Ojibway 

Caddoan  Language*' 

Arikara  Pawnee 

Wichita 

Kiowan  Language 
Kiowa 

/ 

Shoshonean  Language 

Bannock  Northern    Shoshoni 

Comanche  Ute 

Wind  River  Shoshoni , 

Athapascan  Language 
Kiowa- Apache  Sarsi 

Shahaptian  Language 
Nez  Perce 


136  INDIANS  OF  THE  PLAINS 

The  Athapascan-speaking  Kiowa- Apache  and  Sarsi 
are  also  worthy  of  notice  because  the  family  to  which 
they  belong  has  representatives  in  five  of  the  eight 
great  culture  areas  into  which  North  American  cul 
tures  are  localized,  affording  us  the  unique  example 
of  five  distinct  cultures  with  languages  of  the  same 
family,  or  stock. 

Returning  to  our  classification  of  Plains  tribes  under 
linguistic  families,  it  may  be  well  to  note  that  while 
it  is  absolutely  true  that  these  families  have  nothing 
in  common,  the  differences  between  the  various  tribes 
under  the  same  stock  are  by  no  means  equal.  Thus 
while  a  Dakota  and  an  Assiniboin  can  make  them 
selves  partially  understood,  Dakota  and  Crow  are  so 
different  that  only  philologists  are  able  to  discover  them 
to  be  of  the  same  family.  Again,  in  the  Algonkian  group, 
the  Arapaho  and  Gros  Ventre  are  conscious  of  having 
related  languages,  while  the  Blackfoot  lived  on  neigh 
borly  terms  with  the  latter  for  many  years  as  did  the 
Cheyenne  with  the  Arapaho,  not  once,  so  far  as  we 
know,  discovering  any  definite  relation  between  their 
languages.  It  is  well  to  remember,  therefore,  that  the 
term  linguistic  stock  does  not  denote  the  language  or 
speech  of  a  particular  tribe,  but  is  a  designation  of  the 
philologists  to  define  observed  relationships  in  structure 
and  form,  and  that  the  speech  of  these  Indians  differs 
in  varying  degree  as  one  passes  from  one  group  to  the 
other.  Thus,  the  seven  tribes  of  the  Dakota  form  at 
least  three  dialectic  groups:  the  Eastern  tribes  say 
Dakota  and  the  Teton,  Lakota,  one  always  using  d  for 


LANGUAGE     '  137 


the  other's  I;  the  Santee  hda  (go  home),  the  Teton,  gla 
and  the  Yankton  kda.  Even  within  the  different 
communities  of  the  Teton  small  differences  are  said  to 
exist.  Hence,  the  differences  in  speech  are  after  all 
gradations  of  variable  magnitude  from  the  study  of 
which  philologists  are  able  to  discover  relationship 
and  descent,  all  believed  to  have  originated  from  one 
now  extinct  mother  tongue  being  classed  under  one 
family,  or  stock  name.  In  short,  there  are  no  language 
characters  peculiar  to  the  Plains  tribes,  as  is  the  case 
with  other  cultural  characters. 

The  foregoing  remarks  apply  entirely  to  oral  lan 
guage.  We  must  not  overlook  the  extensive  use  of  a 
sign  language  which  seems  to  have  served  all  the  pur 
poses  of  an  international  or  intertribal  language.  The 
signs  were  made  with  the  hands  and  fingers,  but  were 
not  in  any  sense  the  spelling  out  of  a  spoken  language. 
The  language  was  based  upon  ideas  alone.  Had  it 
been  otherwise,  it  could  not  have  been  understood 
outside  of  the  tribe.  Though  some  traces  of  such  a 
language  have  been  met  with  outside  of  the  Plains,  it  is 
only  within  the  area  that  we  find  a  system  so  well 
developed  that  intertribal  visitors  could  be  entertained 
with  sign-talk  on  all  subjects.  The  Crow,  Kiowa, 
Arapaho,  Cheyenne,  and  Blackfoot  are  generally  re 
garded  as  having  been  most  proficient  and  the  Omaha, 
Osage,  Kansas  and  Ute,  as  least  skilful  in  its  use.  It- 
may  not  be  amiss  to  add  that  in  most  tribes  could  be 
found  individuals  priding  themselves  in  speaking  one 
or  more  languages.  In  former  times,  many  Nez  Perce, 


138  INDIANS  OF  THE  PLAINS 

Blackfoot,  Gros  Ventre,  Dakota,  and  Mandan  are  said 
to  have  known  some  of  the  Crow  language  which  was  in 
consequence  often  used  by  traders.  This,  if  true,  was 
no  doubt  due  to  the  peculiar  geographical  position  of 
the  Crow.  The  sign  language,  however,  could  be 
used  among  all  tribes  familiar  with  it  and  must,  there 
fore,  be  considered  one  of  the  striking  peculiar  traits  of 
the  Plains  and  an  important  factor  in  the  diffusion  of 
culture. 


CHAPTER  VI. 
PHYSICAL  TYPE. 

SO  FAR  we  have  concerned  ourselves  with  how  the 
Plains  Indians  lived,  or  with  their  culture,  but 
our  subject  would  not  be  complete  without  a 
general  idea  of  their  anatomy  and  physical  condition. 
According  to  the  census  of  1910  there  resided  within  the 
United  States  50,208  members  of  the  tribes  we  have 
designated  as  Plains  Indians.  The  number  for  each 
tribe,  together  with  the  extent  of  mixture,  is  shown  in 
the  table.  Nearly  all  of  the  mixed-bloods  are  descend 
ants  of  white  men  and  Indian  women.  We  have  no 
exact  data  as  to  the  number  of  these  Indians  in  Canada, 
but  consider  it  to  be  less  than  12,000.  Since  1880  there 
seems  to  have  been  little  change  in  the  density  of  this 
population,  though  some  tribes  are  now  increasing.  As 
to  how  the  number  of  1910  compares  with  the  popula 
tion  of  a  century  or  more  ago  we  can  but  guess,  but 
there  is  no  reason  to  believe  that  it  ever  exceeded 
100,000. 

No  careful  study  of  the  physical  types  for  the  Plains 
has  been  made.  Our  general  impression  of  the  tribal 
appearance  is  largely  influenced  by  hair  dress,  costume, 
and  posture,  and  it  is  difficult  to  dissociate  these 
externals  from  somatic  features.  Yet,  a  brief  scrutiny 
of  casts  of  faces  or  photographs  usually  reveals  tribal 
resemblances  like  those  we  see  in  families  among  our 
selves.  As  the  Indians  of  the  Plains  are  but  a  sub- 

139 


PHYSICAL  TYPE 


143 


POPULATION  AND  MIXTURE  OF  BLOOD 


Total 

Percentage                             Total         Percentage 

Tribe                         Population 

Full-Bloods         Tribe         Population  Full-Bloods 

Teton  Dakota              14284 

74. 

2 

Omaha 

1105 

80.1 

Shoshoni 

3840 

86. 

7 

Sioux  (miscel 

996 

49.6 

Cheyenne 

3055 

87. 

1 

laneous) 

Sisseton  Dakota 

2514 

64. 

9 

Ponca 

875 

52.7 

Piegan 

2268 

53. 

5 

Pawnee 

633 

85.9 

Ute 

2240 

94. 

1 

Hidatsa 

547 

76.4 

Yankton  Dakota 

2088 

64. 

6 

Iowa 

547 

24.2 

Crow 

1799 

69. 

0 

Gros  Ventre 

510 

76.5 

Eastern  Dakota 

1539 

51. 

9 

Caddo 

452 

74.3 

Arapaho 

1419 

92. 

4 

Arikara 

444 

83.8 

Osage 

1373 

43. 

0 

Bannock 

413 

78.2 

Yanktonai  Dakota 

1357 

84. 

3 

Oto 

332 

63.6 

Nez  Perec 

1259 

77. 

0 

Wichita 

318 

96.9 

Assiniboin 

1253 

63. 

3 

Kansa 

238 

29.8 

Comanche 

1171 

62. 

9 

Mandan 

209 

78.9 

Kiowa 

1126         72.6 

Average  percentage  of 
bloods 

full- 

70.00 

Total  population 
Total  full-blood  population 

50,208 
35,000 

division  of  the  same  race  this  is  about  the  only  difference 
that  should  be  expected.  The  color  tone  of  the  skin 
(a  reddish  chocolate)  seems  about  the  same  throughout 
the  area,  though  perhaps  lighter  with  occasional  leanings 
toward  the  yellow  among  some  Blackf oot  of  the  north ; 
yet  to  be  exact,  no  color  studies  worthy  of  the  name 
have  been  made.  The  hair  is,  like  that  of  all  Indians, 
uniformly  black  and  straight.  As  to  stature,  they 
appear  rather  tall.  The  following  average  measure 
ments  have  been  reported. 


Cheyenne 

Crow 

Arapaho 

Dakota 

Plains-Ojibway 

Blackfoot 

Kiowa 

Comanche 


Millimeters. 

Inches. 

1745 

68.7 

1732 

68.1 

1728 

68.03 

1726 

67.09 

1723 

67.8 

1715 

67.5 

1709 

67.2 

1678 

66.06 

144  INDIANS  OF  THE  PLAINS 

These  are  from  the  typical  nomadic  group  of  tribes 
as  previously  defined  and  with  the  exception  of  the 
Comanche  are  quite  tall.  As  the  figures  above  are 
averages,  we  must  expect  among  the  Cheyenne  some 
very  tall  individuals.  (Twenty  percent  of  those 
measured,  exceeded  1820  mm.). 

On  the  west,  the  statures  are  less  :— 

Millimeters.         Inches. 

Nez  Perce  1697  66.8 

Ute  1661  65.4 

Among  the  village  group  we  note:— 

Millimeters.         Inches. 

Omaha  1732  68.1 

Pawnee  1713  67.4 

Arikara  1690  66.5 

again  a  tendency  toward  tall  statures. 

So  as  compared,  not  only  with  other  Indians,  but 
with  mankind  as  a  whole,  the  Indians  of  the  Plains  are 
a  tall  people. 

Looking  at  the  faces  of  the  various  tribes,  some 
general  differences  appear.  Those  of  the  Blackfoot, 
Plains-Cree,  and  Assiniboin  seem  rather  rounded  and 
delicate  while  those  of  the  Dakota  are  longer  and  clear 
cut  with  strong  lines,  an  eagle  nose,  and  more  prominent 
cheek  bones.  The  Pawnee  again  have  large,  heavy,  or 
massive  faces.  On  none  of  these  points,  however,  have 
investigations  been  made  and  it  is  an  open  question 
whether  anything  would  be  accomplished  thereby  other 


PHYSICAL  TYPE 


145 


than  the  definition  of  minute  differences.  In  historical 
times,  at  least,  there  was  a  great  deal  of  intermarriage 
and  visiting  between  these  tribes  which  must  have 
tended  to  level  down  somatic  differences  and  which 
makes  the  successful  determination  of  genetic  relation 
ship  quite  improbable.  As  to  head  form,  we  find  an 
index  of  about  80  for  the  Ute,  Cree,  Dakota,  Blackfoot, 
Cheyenne,  Arapaho,  Pawnee,  and  a  considerably  higher 
value  for  the  Comanche,  Osage,  Omaha,  Wichita,  and 
Kiowa. 

Thus  in  general  it  appears  that  the  Indians 
of  the  Plains  are  not  anatomically  distinct  from 
those  occupying  some  other  parts  of  the  continent. 
Yet,  when  closely  considered  they  tend  to  form  a 
group  in  distinction  to  the  tribes  of  other  areas.  In  the 
preceding  chapters  we  observed  that  the  tribes  in  the 
center  of  the  Plains  were  more  original  in  culture,  where 
as  those  on  the  borders  had  assimilated  may  foreign 
traits.  So  in  much  the  same  way  we  find  that  the 
central  tribes  tend  to  be  tall,  while  the  marginal  ones 
are  shorter,  like  those  of  the  neighboring  culture  areas. 
The  same  kind  of  differences  appear  in  other  characters. 
It  is  thus  plain  that  the  Indians  of  the  Plains  are  some 
what  distinct  from  other  Indians,  but  these  differences 
are  small  as  compared  with  the  differences  between 
Indians  and  Europeans. 


CHAPTER  VII. 
THE  CHRONOLOGY  OF  PLAINS  CULTURE. 

SO  FAR  we  have  sought  to  sketch  the  outline  for  a 
mental  picture  of  what  Plains  Indian  life  was  like 
a  half  century  ago.  We  have  given  no  considera 
tion  to  what  it  was  before  the  discovery  of  the  New 
World,  how  these  people  worked  out  their  food  prob 
lems,  whence  they  came,  the  ideas  that  led  to  their  most 
characteristic  inventions;  in  short,  the  course  of  their 
culture  history.  The  data  for  a  history  of  any  culture 
come  from  three  sources,  direct  observation  of  the  liv 
ing  people,  written  records,  and  archaeological  remains. 
So  far  we  have  depended  almost  entirely  upon  observa 
tions  made  upon  the  living,  that  is,  we  have  carefully 
sifted  and  compiled  the  facts  reported  by  contemporary 
writers.  Since  the  Plains  Indians  had  no  native  system 
of  writing  there  are  no  records  of  the  past  and  so  nothing- 
is  to  be  expected  from  that  source.  Thus  the  only  addi 
tional  aid  we  may  expect  would  come  from  archaeology, 
or  the  study  of  objects  and  traces  of  culture  preserved  in 
the  ground.  This  limitation  to  the  information  avail 
able  for  a  history  of  Plains  culture  divides  our  subject 
into  two  periods :  the  historic  period  and  the  prehistoric. 
These  terms  are,  however,  not  the  best  because  the 
historic  period  for  the  Plains  Indian  opens  about  1540, 
while  we  think  of  history  as  beginning  a  few  thousand 
years  before  Christ.  It  is  therefore  less  confusing  to 
speak  of  the  prehistoric  period  of  the  American  Indians 
as  pre-Columbian.  So  from  the  information  at  hand  we 

146 


THE  CHRONOLOGY  OF  PLAINS  CULTURE         147 

can  make  the  accompanying  outline  of  Plains  history, 
or  as  we  frequently  say,  the  chronology  of  its  culture. 
To  make  it  easier  to  understand  this  chapter,  we  should 
fix  in  our  minds  the  following  characteristics  of  Plains 
culture : — 

They  lived  in  the  open  grass  land  of  the  Great  West. 

The  buffalo  is  the  keynote  to  their  culture. 

About  1540  they  became  horse  Indians,  but  before 
that  date  used  the  dog  for  a  beast  of  burden. 

The  most  typical  tribes  made  no  pottery,  nor 
attempted  agriculture,  but  lived  in  tipis  and  roamed  the 
open  plains. 

CHRONOLOGY  OF  PLAINS  CULTURE. 

1880-  Reservation  Period. 

Gradual  Americanization  and  disappear 
ance  of  native  culture  traits. 

Extinction  of  the  buffalo. 

Many  objects  illustrated  in  this  book  and 
exhibited  in  the  Museum  were  made  in 
the  early  part  of  this  period,  but  are 
typical  of  the  preceding. 

1540-1880     Horse  Culture  Period. 

The  culture  described  in  this  book  be 
longs  here,  but  many  customs,  objects, 
and  decorative  designs  observed  in 
this  period  seem  to  have  originated  in 
the  pre-Columbian. 

Probable  intensification  of  roving  habits, 
buffalo  hunting,  and  the  use  of  skins. 


148  INDIANS  OF  THE  PLAINS 

Firearms  and  other  trade  objects  in 
troduced. 

Trade  beads  substituted  for  quills. 

Horses,  saddles,  and  the  art  of  riding 
introduced. 

-1540     Pre-Columbian  Period. 

Quillwork  introduced. 

Agriculture,  pottery,  and  simple  weav 
ing  appear  among  the  border  tribes, 
but  buffalo  hunting  the  chief  occupa 
tion. 

Dog  traction  developed. 

Beginning  of  buffalo  culture,  probably 
very  ancient. 

The  first  immigrants  brought  the  use  of 
stone  and  bone  tools. 

ThePre=Columbian  Period.  Though  the  lands 
of  the  New  World  were  first  sighted  in  1492  it  is  not 
until  1540  that  we  hear  of  the  Plains  Indians.  At  about 
this  time  two  famous  Spanish  expeditions  reached  the 
southern  corners  of  the  area.  De  Soto  came  to  the 
Mississippi  in  1541  and  made  some  excursions  into  the 
prairies  to  the  west.  A  year  earlier  Coronado  set 
out  from  a  camp  near  what  is  now  New  Mexico,  and 
traversed  the  plains  northeastward,  apparently  to  the 
country  of  the  Pawnee.  It  is  from  the  reports  of  these 
two  romantic  journeys  that  we  get  our  first  glimpse  of 
Plains  culture.  Coronado,  at  least,  saw  typical  roving 
Plains  Indians,  for  we  read : — 


THE  CHRONOLOGY  OF  PLAINS  CULTURE  149 

They  have  better  figures,  are  better  warriors,  and  are  more  feared. 
They  travel  like  the  Arabs,  with  their  tents  and  troops  of  dogs  loaded 
with  poles  and  having  Moorish  pack  saddles  with  girths.     When  the 
load  gets  disarranged,  the  dogs  howl,  calling  some  one  to  fix  them  right. 
These  people  eat  raw  flesh  and  drink  blood.    They  do  not  eat  human 
flesh     They  are  a  kind  people  and  not  cruel.    They  are  faithful  friends. 
Thev  are  able  to  make  themselves  very  well  understood  by  means  of 
signs     They  dry  the  flesh  in  the  sun,  cutting  it  thin  like  a  leaf,  and  when 
dry  they  grind  it  like  meal  to'keep  it  and  make  a  sort  of  sea  soup  of  it  to 
eat     A  handful  thrown  into  a  pot  swells  up  so  as  to  increase  very  much. 
Thev  season  it  with  fat,  which  they  always  try  to  secure  when  they  kill  a 
cow"   They  empty  a  large  gut  and  fill  it  with  blood,  and  carry  this  around 
the  neck  to  drink  when  they  are  thirsty.    When  they  open  the  belly  of  a 
cow    they  squeeze  out  the  chewed  grass  and  drink  the  juice  that  re 
mains  behind,  because  they  say  that  this  contains  the  essence  of  the 
stomach.     They  cut    the  hide  open  at  the  back  and  pull  it  off  at  the 
joints  using  a  flint  as  large  as  a  finger,  tied  in  a  little  stick,  with  as  much 
ease  as  if  working  with  a  good  iron  tool.     They  give  it  an  edge  with 
their  own  teeth.    The  quickness  with  which  they  do  this  is  something 
worth  seeing  and  noting.    (Winship,  Coronado,  111-112). 

.  They  do  not  live  in  houses,  but  have  some  sets  of  poles  which 
they  carry  with  them  to  make  some  huts  at  the  places  where  they  stop, 
which  serve  them  for  houses.  They  tie  these  poles  together  at  the  top 
and  stick  the  bottoms  into  the  ground,  covering  them  with  some  cow- 
skins  which  they  carry  around,  and  which,  as  I  have  said,  serve  them 
for  houses.  From  what  was  learned  of  these  Indians,  all  their  human 
needs  are  supplied  by  these  cows,  for  they  are  fed  and  clothed  and  shod 
from  these.  They  are  a  people  who  wander  around  here  and  there, 
wherever  seems  to  them  best.  (Winship,  Coronado,  230). 

It  was  more  than  a  hundred  years  later  that  the 
French  and  English  first  came  in  contact  with  the 
northern  part  of  the  Plains  area,  and  made  similar 
observations  which  may  be  consulted  in  the  books 
treating  of  Hennepin,  Radisson,  Perrot,  and  La  Salle. 
From  all  these  accounts  we  learn  that  Plains  culture 
in  1600  was  very  much  like  what  could  have  been 
observed  in  1800,  if  we  ignore  horses,  guns,  and  all 
other  trade  articles.  Hence,  we  can  safely  say  that  the 


150  INDIANS  OF  THE  PLAINS 

greater  part  of  the  culture  traits  described  in  the  preced 
ing  pages  originated  in  pre-Columbian  times.  Our  next 
problem,  then,  is  to  determine  which  of  these  originated 
first. 

To  assign  relative  ages  to  pre-Columbian  advances 
in  Plains  culture  we  can  proceed  only  by  interpreting 
the  facts  at  hand.  A  people  living  in  tents  and  packing 
their  belongings  with  a  few  dogs  could  scarcely  be  ex 
pected  to  leave  behind  them  ruins  or  earthworks,  but 
only  traces  of  camp  fires,  heaps  of  bones,  and  here  and 
there  a  stone  tool.  This  is  just  what  the  archaeologists 
have  been  able  to  find  in  the  area  occupied  by  the  typical 
tribes,  named  and  located  in  our  introductory  chapter. 
Of  stone  objects,  there  are  arrow-heads,  lance  heads, 
knives,  scraper  blades,  grooved  hammers,  and  club 
heads,  grooved  rubbing  stones  for  smoothing  arrow- 
shafts,  pipes,  etc.  Bone  objects  are  not  so  indestruct 
ible  as  the  preceding,  but  when  surviving  consist  of 
skin-dressing  tools,  awls  and  other  perforators,  wedges, 
pattern  markers  on  skins,  quill  flatteners,  knives,  arrow 
points,  whistles,  beads,  and  other  ornaments.  Pottery 
is  absent.  Thus  even  a  general  enumeration  of  the 
objects  found  in  archaeological  collections  from  the 
heart  of  the  Plains,  indicates  that  the  tribes  of  the 
buffalo  country  never  rose  above  the  cultural  level  of 
nomadic  hunters. 

Though  it  is  true  that  no  ruins  or  earthworks  are  to 
be  found  out  in  the  Plains  there  are  some  evidences  of 
habitation.  Camping  places  are  marked  by  circles  of 
stones  used  to  hold  down  the  edges  of  tipis,  the  lines  of 


THE  CHRONOLOGY  OF  PLAINS  CULTURE         151 

old  buffalo  and  antelope  drives  are  marked  by  boulders, 
and  occasionally  there  are  heaps  of  stones.    But  of  far 
greater  impressiveness  are  the  great  " diggings"  from 
which  came  the  stone  for  knives  and  arrow-heads.    The 
most  extensive  of  these  is  known  as  the   "  Spanish 
Diggings"  in  Converse  County,  Wyoming,  but  many 
others  of  about  equal  magnitude  are  found  in  that  part 
of  the  State.    Each  of  these  covers  many  acres,  one  pit 
after  another  from  which  were  dug  blocks  of  quartzite 
and  jasper,  and  around  them  heaps  of  broken  blocks, 
chips,  and  rejected  forms.    Tons  and  tons  of  this  worked 
over  material  lie  heaped  about  as  evidence  of  the  anti 
quity   and   reality   of   pre-Columbian   Plains   culture. 
Hence  in  this  earlier  period  as  well  as  in  later  historic 
time,  the  Plains  were  occupied  by  stone  age  hunters. 

Unfortunately  all  of  these  interesting  traces  of  the 
pre-Columbian  Plains  Indians  have  not  been  studied 
closely  enough  to  tell  us  much  about  their  age,  but  by 
comparing  the  facts  of  Plains  culture  with  those  of  the 
surrounding  parts  of  the  continent  and  especially  by 
studying  the  cultures  of  the  border  Plains  tribes  some 
conclusions  as  to  the  relative  ages  for  a  few  culture 
traits  have  been  formed.  These  are  presented  in  the 
chronological  table. 

The  Horse  Culture  Period.  The  Indians  of  the 
Plains  lived  a  free  life  until  long  after  the  Civil  War. 
The  European  invasion  of  the  New  World  brought  him 
the  horse,  an  animal  far  superior  to  his  dog.  Just  when 
and  how  the  horse  came  into  his  hands  we  do  not  know, 
but  most  of  the  typical  tribes  seem  to  have  been 


152  INDIANS  OF  THE  PLAINS 

mounted  long  before  1700.  Both  De  Soto  and  Coronado 
brought  many  horses  into  the  Plains,  some  of  which 
escaped,  starting  wild  herds,  and  the  Spanish  settle 
ments  in  New  Mexico  gave  the  Indian  ample  oppor 
tunity  to  learn  their  use.  Once  the  Indians  of  the 
extreme  south  came  to  use  horses,  their  spread  north 
ward  from  tribe  to  tribe  would  not  be  long  delayed.  At 
least  all  the  tribes  west  of  the  Missouri  had  horses  when 
the  French  and  English  explorers  first  met  them. 

It  is  worth  noting  that  most  of  these  tribes  became 
horsemen  before  they  saw  Europeans,  or  were  other 
wise  influenced  by  traders.  Thus  Plains  horse  culture 
though  introduced  by  Europeans,  was  self  supporting. 
The  Indian  made  his  own  saddles,  etc.,  while  his  herds 
increased  by  natural  laws.  Had  connection  with  the 
Old  World  been  broken,  it  is  safe  to  assume  that  horse 
culture  would  have  flourished  indefinitely.  This  is  in 
contrast  to  the  other  European  traits  introduced  to  the 
Plains  after  1700.  The  Indian  never  learned  to  make 
guns,  powder,  cloth,  kettles,  knives,  etc.;  hence,  these 
never  became  a  part  of  his  culture  in  the  same  sense  as 
the  horse.  For  this  reason  we  characterize  the  historic 
period  in  the  development  of  the  Plains  Indians  as  the 
period  of  horse  culture. 

During  the  long  interval  from  1540  to  1850,  or  there 
about,  these  horse-using  Indians  roamed  the  plains  at 
will  except  as  intertribal  hostilities  and  occasional 
white  intrusion  prevented,  but  from  1850  to  1880 
settlers  began  to  crowd  into  the  territory,  occupy  the 
lands,  and  exterminate  the  buffalo.  Then  followed 


THE  CHRONOLOGY  OF  PLAINS  CULTURE         153 

a  period  of  Indian  wars,  the  establishment  of  reserva 
tions  and  the  gradual  subjection  of  all  tribes  to  white 
control  and  close  confinement  to  their  reserved  lands. 
By  1880  these  methods  had  completely  exterminated 
the  buffalo  and  all  but  brought  the  typical  culture  of 
the  Plains  Indian  to  an  end.  Now  he  sends  his  child 
ren  to  school,  supports  churches,  cultivates  the  land, 
and  acquires  citizenship. 

The  establishment  of  reservations  for  the  Plains 
Indians  began  about  1855,  but  it  was  not  until  1880  or 
later  that  all  were  settled  and  confined  to  definite  tracts. 
The  first  Europeans  to  visit  America  treated  the 
Indians  as  independent  nations  and  their  chiefs  as  the 
equals  of  kings.  The  same  attitude  was  taken  by  the 
United  States  under  President  Washington  so  that  the 
chief  of  each  little  tribe  was  recognized  as  a  ruler  and 
treaties  were  made  with  him  by  all  succeeding  Presi 
dents  until  the  time  of  Grant,  when  in  1871,  Congress 
declared  all  Indians  subjects  of  the  United  States. 
This  was  the  first  important  step  to  the  assimilation  of 
the  Indian,  a  process  which  has  now  progressed  so  far 
that  all  Plains  Indians  will  soon  be  citizens  and  their 
reservations  disappear.  This  not  far  distant  event  will 
mark  the  close  of  the  last  period  in  the  history  of  Plains 
culture.  Yet  the  memory  of  this  culture  during  the 
horse  period,  will  long  remain  as  a  source  of  inspiration 
for  art  and  literature.  No  other  culture  is  so  picturesque 
as  this,  and  certainly  none  holds  a  higher  place  in  mod 
ern  art. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 
ORIGINS. 

THIS  brief  sketch  of  the  anthropology  of  the 
Plains  naturally  raises  a  few  quite  fundamental 
questions :  How  did  these  tribes  come  to  be  here? 
How  long  have  they  been  here?  What  was  the  origin  of 
their  cultures?  While  final  answers  cannot  be  given  for 
these,  some  progress  toward  their  solution  has  been 
made.  Taking  the  cultural  classification  as  our  point 
of  view,  we  see  that  Plains  Indians  are  not  peculiar  in 
stature  or  head  form,  yet  seem  to  fall  into  a  group  dis 
tinct  from  other  parts  of  the  continent.  These  differ 
ences  are,  however,  slight  and  give  us  no  insight  into 
the  origins  of  the  tribal  groups.  For  example,  the 
shorter  western  tribes  ranging  from  165  to  170  cm.  fall 
into  a  large  group  of  low  statures  including  most  of  the 
Californian,  Plateau,  North  Pacific  Coast,  and  South 
eastern  areas.  The  Comanche,  who  speak  a  language  of 
Shoshonean  stock  widely  distributed  over  the  Plateau 
area,  are  also  relatively  short.  The  greater  part  of  the 
typical  and  Village  tribes,  however,  range  from  170  to 
175  cm.,  including  the  Yuma,  Mohave,  and  Pima  of  the 
Southwest,  the  Iroquois  and  most  Algonkin  of  the 
Woodland  area.  As  to  head  form,  the  moderately  long 
head  of  the  Plains  does  not  hold  for  the  Osage  and 
Wichita  of  the  south  and  the  Nez  Perce  of  the  north 
west,  but  extends  over  the  Plateau  area  on  the  west  and 
into  the  Woodland  area  of  the  east.  Hence,  in  a  general 
Avay,  the  tall,  somewhat  long-headed,  typical  tribes  seem 

154 


ORIGINS  155 

to  have  relatives  to  the  east  in  the  Woodlands  through 
Indiana,  Ohio,  and  New  York.    Possibly  this  represents 
the  influence  of  some  older  parent  group  whose  blood 
gradually  worked  its  way  across  the  continent  through 
many  languages  and  several  varieties  of  culture.    On  the 
other  hand,  the  shorter,  less   long-headed  tribes  were 
massed  around  the  Plains  in  the   Southwest,  the  Pla 
teaus,  and  part  of  the  Woodlands  almost  engulfing  the 
taller  group.    Now,  while  it  seems  clear  that  migrations 
of  blood  are  in  evidence,  there  is,  as  yet,  no  satisfactory 
means   of   determining   the   point   of    origin   and   the 
direction  of  movement  for  these  types.     Turning  from 
physical  type  to  language,  we  have  several  large  masses 
impinging  upon  the  Plains  and    while  it  seems  most 
likely  that   the   parent   speech    for   each   stock   arose 
somewhere  outside  the  Plains,  we  are  not  yet  clear  as 
to  the  impossibility  of  their  arising  in  the  Plains  and 
spreading  to  other  cultures.     It  does  not  seem  probable 
that  all  of  them  would  arise  within  this  small  area,  but, 
on  the  other  hand,  it  is  impossible  to  give  satisfactory 
proof  for  any  particular  tribe.      Thus,  language  gives 
us  but  a  presumption  in  favor  of  migrations  into  the 
Plains  of  the  Siouan,  Caddoan,  and  Shoshonean  speak 
ing  tribes.    It  is  true  that  many  tribes  have  migration 
legends  some  of  which  are  consistent  with  a  few  details 
of  culture;   but  as  these  nearly  always  take  the  forms 
of  other  myths,  they  cannot   be  given  much  historical 
weight.     The  plain  fact  is  that    the  moment  we  get 
beyond  the  period  of  exploration  in  the  Plains,  historical 
data  fail  us£.     We  know  where  the  tribes  were  when 


156  INDIANS  OF  THE  PLAINS 

discovered  and  most  of  their  movements  since  that 
date,  but  beyond  that  we  must  proceed  by  inference 
and  the  interpretation  of  anthropological  data. 

Not  being  able  to  discover  how  the  various  tribes 
came  to  be  in  the  Plains,  we  can  scarcely  expect  to  tell 
how  long  they  have  been  there.  The  archaeological 
method  may  be  brought  into  play  here;  but  as  yet  we 
lack  sufficient  data.  Mounds  and  earthworks  have  been 
discovered  in  the  Dakotas  and  southward  along  the  Mis 
souri,  apparently  the  fringe  of  the  great  mound  area 
in  the  Woodlands  to  the  east,  but  in  the  open  plains,  we 
have  so  far  only  evidence  of  states  of  culture  similar  to 
those  we  have  just  described,  from  which  we  infer  that 
no  other  culture  preceded  this  one.  Yet  for  all  we  know, 
its  origin  may  date  back  several  thousand  years. 
Certain  it  is  that  in  1540  all  the  typical  Plains  traits 
of  culture  were  in  function,  and  since  the  wheels  of 
primitive  progress  move  slowly  we  can  safely  assume 
a  remote  origin. 

Anyway  when  we  consider  the  culture  of  the  Plains 
since  1540,  it  appears  that  so  many  of  the  traits  enu 
merated  in  these  pages  are  almost  entirely  peculiar  to 
the  area  that  we  are  constrained  to  conclude  that  they 
developed  within  it.  This  is  strengthened  by  the 
peculiar  adaptation  of  many  of  these  traits  to  the 
geographical  conditions,  suggesting  that  they  were  in 
vented  or  discovered  by  a  Plains  people.  It  seems, 
therefore,  that  while  the  origin  of  the  blood  and  lan 
guages  of  the  Plains  cannot  be  determined,  its  cultural 
problem  is  in  a  fair  way  to  be  solved.  Among  the  most 


u 


ORIGINS  157 

distinctive  traits  are  the  sun  dance,  a  camp  circle  band 
system,  the  soldier  societies,  highly  developed  ritualistic 
bundles,  a  peculiar  geometric  decorative  art,  the  use  of 
the  horse  and  travois,  the  skin-covered  tipi,  the  earth  - 
lodge,  and  economic  dependence  upon  the  buffalo. 
Some  of  these  are  absolutely  confined  to  the  area  and 
though  others  are  found  elsewhere  they  occur  as  second 
ary  rather  than  as  primary  traits.  We  may  safely 
conclude,  therefore,  that  the  tribes  of  the  Plains  at 
least  developed  these  traits  to  their  present  form,  if 
they  did  not  actually  invent  them. 

Perhaps  the  most  interesting  phase  of  Plains  an 
thropology  is  the  general  diffusion  of  traits  among  the 
many  political  and  linguistic  units  found  therein. 
Miss  Semple  favors  the  theory  that  a  Plains  region  is 
the  most  favorable  environment  for  the  diffusion  of 
cultural  traits.  Whatever  may  be  the  fate  of  this 
hypothesis,  it  is  clear  that  among  the  Indians  of  the 
Plains  there  has  been  sufficient  diffusion  to  carry  many 
traits  over  the  greater  part  of  the  area.  That  diffusion 
rather  than  independent  development  or  convergent 
evolution  is  the  most  satisfactory  explanation  of  this 
case,  may  be  seen  from  noting  that  the  various  tribes 
were  acquainted  with  many  of  their  neighbors,  that  in 
the  sign  language  they  had  a  ready  means  of  inter 
communication,  and  that  since  their  discovery  the  actual 
diffusion  of  several  traits  has  been  observed  by  anthro 
pologists. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY. 

The  following  is  not  offered  as  a  complete  bibliog 
raphy  of  the  subject  but  as  a  list  of  books  likely  to 
meet  the  needs  of  the  general  reader.    For  a  mere  view 
of  Indian  life  on  the  Plains,  the  books  of  Catlin,  Grin- 
nell,  Maximilian,  and  McClintock  are  recommended. 

Annual  Reports,  Bureau  of  American  Ethnology,  3rd,  llth,  13th,  14th, 
17th,  22nd,  27th. 

Anthropological  Papers,  American  Museum  of  Natural  History,  Vols. 
1,  2,  4,  5,  7,  9,  11,  16,  17,  21,  and  25. 

Anthropological  Series,  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History,  Vols.  4  and  9. 

Bulletin,  American  Museum  of  Natural  History,  Vol.  18. 

Catlin,  George.  Illustrations  of  the  Manners,  Customs,  and  Conditions 
of  the  North  American  Indians.  London,  1848. 

Clark,  W.  P.     The  Indian  Sign  Language.    Philadelphia,  1885. 

Dodge,  Richard  I.    Our  Wild  Indians.    Hartford,  1882. 

Farrand,  Livingston.  Basis  of  American  History,  1500-1900.  The 
American  Nation:  a  History,  Vol.  2.  New 
York,  1904. 

Grinnell,  George  Bird.    Blackfoot  Lodge  Tales.    New  York,  1904. 

Pawnee    Hero    Stories    and    Folk-Tales,    New 
York,  1893. 

The  Story  of  the  Indian.    New  York,  1904. 
The  Fighting  Cheyennes.     New  York,  1915. 

Handbook  of  American  Indians.    Washington,  1907,  1910. 

Henry  and  Thompson.  New  Light  on  the  Early  History  of  the  Great 
Northwest,  Edited  by  Elliott  Coues.  New 
York,  1897. 

Lewis  and  Clark.  Original  Journals  of  the  Lewis  and  Clark  Expedi 
tion.  (Thwaites  Edition).  New  York,  1904. 

Lewis  and  Clark.  History  of  the  Expedition  under  the  command  of 
Captains  Lewis  and  Clark  to  the  Sources  of 
the  Missouri,  across  the  Rocky  Mountains, 
down  the  Columbia  River  to.  the  Pacific  in 
1804-6.  Three  volumes.  New  York,  1902. 

159 


160  INDIANS  OF  THE  PLAINS 

Mason,  Otis  T.  The  Origins  of  Inventions:  A  Study  of  Industry  among 
Primitive  Peoples.  London,  1895. 

Maximilian,  Prince  of  Wied.  Travels  in  the  Interior  of  North  America, 
Translated  by  H.  Evans  Lloyd.  London, 
1843. 

McClintock,  Walter.    The  Old  North  Trail.    London,  1910. 

Mooney,  James.  The  Cheyenne  Indians.  (Memoirs,  American  Anthro 
pological  Association,  Vol.  1,  Part  6,  pp.  357- 
642.  Lancaster,  Pa.,  1907.) 

Papers  of  the  Peabody  Museum,  Harvard  University.    Vol.  3,  No.  4. 

Perrot,  Nicolas.  The  Indian  Tribes  of  the  Upper  Mississippi  Valley 
and  Region  of  the  Great  Lakes.  Translated, 
edited,  annotated  and  with  bibliography  and 
index  by  Emma  Helen  Blair.  Two  volumes. 
Cleveland,  1911. 

Wissler,  Clark.  The  American  Indian.  An  Introduction  to  the  Anthro 
pology  of  the  New  World.  New  York,  1917. 

Winship,  George  Parker.  Editor.  The  Journey  of  Coronado,  1540- 
1542,  from  the  City  of  Mexico  to  the  Grand 
Canon  of  the  Colorado  and  the  Buffalo  Plains 
of  Texas,  Kansas,  and  Nebraska,  as  told  by 
himself  and  his  followers.  Translated  and  edited, 
with  an  introduction  by  George  Parker  Winship. 
New  York,  1904. 


INDEX 


Adolescence  ceremonies,  92. 
Age-societies,  96,  98;  origin,  99. 
Agriculture,  implements  used  in, 

81;  tribes  practising,  14,  18,  29- 

31. 

Algonkian  language,  134,  135, 136. 
Altars,  119,  125. 
Amulets,  110;  navel,  92. 
Animal  tales,  105-106. 
Archaeology,  Plains,  150-151,  156. 
Armor,  82-83. 
Art,  decorative  and  religious, 

127-133. 

Arrows,  poisoned,  83. 
Athapascan  language,  135,  136. 
Awls,  64. 
Axes,  80. 

Backrests,  56. 

Bags,  rawhide,  65,  67;  soft,  56, 
68-74. 

Bands,  88;  in  camp  circle,  91. 

Bark  houses,  40,  41. 

Basketry,  55,  56,  74. 

Beadwork,  128-129. 

Beaming  tools,  63-64. 

Blankets,  rabbitskin,  43,  55. 

Bodkins,  64,  65. 

Bowls,  of  wood,  77-78. 

Bows,  types  of,  25-27. 

Breechcloth,  42. 

Bridle,  native  type  of,  35. 

Brush  lodges,  40-41. 

Brushes,  hair,  54. 

Buffalo,  calf  pipe,  110;  ceremony 
for  calling,  54,  114-115;  distri 
bution  of,  13,  17;  hunting,  22- 
25;  importance  in  Plains  cul 
ture,  17,  31. 

Bull-boat,  31-32,  33. 

Burial,  methods  of,  92-93. 


Caddoan  language,  135. 
Calumet,  110. 
Camp  circle,  90-91. 
Campsites,  150-151. 
Canoes,  use  of,  31,  32-33. 
Catlin,  George,  paintings  of,  35. 
Ceremonial  procedure,  124-126. 
Ceremonies,  103-126;  ghost  dance, 

120-122;    religious,    109;     sun 

dance,  116-120;  tribal,  114-116. 
Charms,  received  in  visions,  109. 
Children,  care  and  rearing  of,  92. 
Chronology,  of  Plains  culture, 

146-153. 
Clans,  89. 

Clubs,  stone-headed,  27. 
Combs,  54. 
Confederacies,  93. 
Cooking,  methods  of,  74-77. 
Copper,  prehistoric  use  of,  81. 
Costumed    figure,    of    a    Dakota 

woman,  48. 
Council,  tribal,  93. 
Coup,  counting  of,  101. 
Cradles,  92. 
Cree  dance,  124. 
Cruppers,  36. 
Culture,  areas,  11,  12,  17;  centers, 

12;    chronology  of  Plains,  146- 

153;  diffusion  of,  122-123,  157; 

heroes,  mythical  103-105. 
Cultural    characteristics,     Plains, 

17-18,  85-86,  99,  157. 

Dances,  Cree,  124;  ghost,  120-122; 
grass,  122;  green  corn,  116: 
kissing,  124;  Omaha,  123;  scalp, 
124;  sun,  116-120;  war,  124. 

Dancing,  associations,  123-124; 
at  sun  pole,  119. 

Death,  92-93. 


161 


162 


INDIANS  OF  THE  PLAINS 


Decorations,  on  bags,  67,  68;  on 
robes,  43. 

Deluge  myth,  103. 

Designs,  on  moccasins,  101,  127, 
128,  129;  on  woman's  robe,  131. 

Digging  stick,  80-81;  in  sun 
dance  bundle,  117. 

Doctors,  92. 

Dog,  as  pack  animal,  18,  33;  so 
ciety,  96. 

Dress,  42-54;  women's,  construc 
tion  and  pattern,  49-52. 

Drilling,  methods  of,  80. 

Ear  ornaments,  54. 

Earth-lodges,  construction,  38-40; 
distribution,  40. 

Earth-works,  150,  156. 

Environment,  influence  on  cul 
ture,  86. 

Exogamy,  89,  91. 

Facial  characteristics,  144-145. 
Feathers,    significance    of,    worn 

in  hair,  53-54,  101. 
Fire-making,  55. 
Fleshing  tools,  62,  63. 
Food,  21-22;   cooking,  74-76. 
Forests,  distribution  of,  15. 
Four,  ceremonial  number,  125. 

Games,  84-86. 

Gentes,  89. 

Geometric  art,  127-129,  133. 

Ghost  dance,  84;  ceremonies,  120- 

122. 

Government,  93. 
Grass,  dance,  122;  lodge,  42. 
Green  corn  dance,  116. 

Hair,  manner  of  dressing,  50,  53, 
54. 


Hand  game,  85. 

Headdress,  sun  dance,  118. 

Head  form,  Plains  Indians,  145, 
154. 

Headgear,  47. 

Head  men,  of  a  band,  93. 

Heraldry,  101. 

Hierarchy,  Dakota,  106-107. 

History,  outline  of  Plains  Indian, 
147-148. 

Hoes,  81. 

Horse,  culture  period,  147,  151- 
153;  introduction  of,  18,  22,  31, 
151-152. 

Hunting,  buffalo,  18,  22-25;  cus 
toms,  21,  22;  implements  used 
in,  25-27;  individual,  24-25. 

Individual  medicines,  108-110. 
Industrial  arts,  54-86. 
Inheritance,     membership     in     a 
band,  89. 

Knives,  78,  79;  bone,  79,  80. 
Kissing  dance,  124. 
Kiowan  language,  135. 

Labor,  division  of,  54. 

Lance,  27. 

Language,  134-138,  155. 

Leggings,  45. 

Linguistic  stock,  and  culture  type, 

slight  correspondence  between, 

12;  defined,   136. 
Lodges,  types  of,  40-42. 

Mad  (or  foolish)  society,  96. 

Maize,  ceremones  for  growing  of, 
114;  cultivation  of,  21,  29-30. 

Marriages,  91-93;  exogamic  reg 
ulation  of,  89. 

Masks,  ceremonial,  125. 


INDEX 


163 


Material  culture,  21-86. 

Mauls,  stone,  27,  80. 

Medicine  bundles,  109-114;  trans 
fer  of,  113. 

Medicine-pipe,  81,  110,  111,  113. 

Medicines,  individual,  108-110. 

Migration  legends,  106,  155. 

Mittens,  47. 

Moccasins,  designs  on,  102,  127, 
128,  129;  types  of,  43-45. 

Morningstar,  sacrifice  to  the,  116. 

Mortars,  rawhide,  29. 

Mounds,  150. 

Musical  instruments,  in  cere 
monies.  126. 

Mythology,  103-106. 

Names,  manner  of  giving,  92. 
Navel  cord,  preservation  of,  92. 
Needles,  64. 

Omaha  dance,  122,  123. 
Okipa,  119;  drums,  110. 
Origins,  154-157. 

Paint  bags,  distribution,  71-73. 
Painting,    of    the   body,    54;    for 

ceremonies,  126. 
Parfleche,  65-67. 
Pemmican,  27-29. 
Personal  adornment,  54. 
Peyote  worship,  122-123. 
Physical  type,  12,  139-145. 
Pictographic  art,  132. 
Picture  writing,  101. 
Pipe  bags.  70. 
Pipes,  81-82;    use  in  ceremonies, 

126. 

Plains  Indian  Hall,  nlan  of,  3. 
Plains  tribes,    political    divisions 

oi,  87-89;  range  of,  13,  14,  15, 

20;  typical  14,  Ib. 


Plateau  tribes,  15,  19,  20. 

Police,  camp,  94. 

Political   divisions,    Plains  tribes, 

87-89 ;  organization,  93. 
Polygamy,  91. 

Population, Plains  Indian,  139, 143. 
Pottery,  74,  76,  77,  86,  150. 
Pounders,  stone-headed,  29. 
Pre-Columbian   period,  of  Plains 

culture,  148-151. 
Property,  ownership  of,  99-101. 

Quill  embroidery,  127-128. 
Quirts,  36. 

Rack,  for  drying  meat,  28. 

Rawhide,  use  of,  29,  36,  56,  64, 
65,  67. 

Realistic  art,  130,  132. 

Regalia,  grass  dance,  123;  used  by 
societies,  98. 

Religion,  103-126. 

Peligious  concepts,  106-108. 

Eeservation  period,  of  Plains  cul 
ture,  147,  153. 

Riding  gear,  35-36. 

Rituals,  demonstration  of,  125; 
for  medicine  bundles,  113-114. 

Robes,  of  skins,  42-44. 

Saddle,  bags,  73;  blankets,  36. 
Saddles,  types  of,  35. 
Sand  paintings,  125. 
Scalp,  dance,  124;  taking,  101. 
Scrapers,  skin-dressing,  61-62. 
Sewing,  64-65. 
Shahaptian  language,  135. 
Shamans,  108-109,  146. 
Shields,  buffalo  hide,  82-83. 
Shirts,    distribution    of    use,    47; 

scalp,  46-47. 
Shoshonean  language,  135. 


164 


INDIANS  OF  THE  PLAINS 


Sign  language,  137-138. 

Siouan  language,  135. 

Skin,  color,  143;    dressing,  56-64. 

Sled,  use  of,  33. 

Social,  distinction,  99-102;  organi 
zation,  87-102. 

Societies,  95-99;  origins  of,  96, 
98;  women's,  99. 

Soldier  bands,  95-99. 

Soldiers,  or  police,  18,  94. 

Soldier  societies,  99. 

Songs,  108,  110,  124. 

Spoons,  types  of,  77. 

Stature,  143-144,  154-155. 

Stirrups,  types  of,  35. 

Strike-a-light  pouch,  71,  72. 

Sun  dance,  18,  115,  116-120; 
bundle,  117;  pole,  116. 

Sunwise  movements,  91. 

Supernatural  helper,  108-109. 

Sweathouse,  124. 

Symbolism,  in  art,  129-132;  in 
ghost  dance  regalia,  121;  in 
medicine  bundles,  113. 

Taboos,  108. 


Tailoring,  64-65. 

Taimay  image,  110. 

Textiles,  55-56. 

Thunderbird,  in  mythology,  106. 

Tipi,      construction     of,     36-37; 

distribution  of  use,  37-38. 
Tobacco,  ceremonies  for  planting, 

116;  cultivation  of,  30-31,  82. 
Tools,  primitive,  78-80. 
Torture,  in  seeking  a  supernatural 

helper,   108-109;   in  sun  dance, 

116,  119. 

Transportation,  18,  31-36. 
Travois,  types  of,  33,  34,  35. 

Vegetable  foods,  21,  31. 
Village  tribes,  19,  20,  36,  73. 
Visions,  109. 

War,   bundles,    109,    113;    dance, 

124;  deeds,  99;  record,  100. 
Weapons,  82-84. 
Weaving,  55-56. 
Women's  clothing,  49-52. 
Women's  societies,  99. 


NS  OF  THE  PLAINS 


K 


